


A Second Chance at Forever

by katquarius



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Domestic, F/F, Fluff, One Shot, One Shot Collection, Same universe, SuperCorp, Supercorp endgame, accepting prompts, basically a bunch of stories about Kara and Lena at different points in their relationship, technically in the canon universe but I took a lot of creative liberties, they are so soft and they love each other so much okay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2019-12-18 05:22:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 29,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18243218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katquarius/pseuds/katquarius
Summary: Krypton was Kara's first life; her first chance. On Earth, she has a second chance at forever, and she chooses to spend it with Lena.A collection of Supercorp one-shots depicting Kara and Lena's romantic relationship at different points in time. They are all technically in the basic canon universe, but I won't refer to many specific canon events, and certain details may not be totally canon compliant. (For example, I wrote my own Supergirl reveal.) The timeline is out of order. Feel free to suggest a prompt in the comments or on Twitter! (@katquarius) All chapters are rated T, unless otherwise noted. Prepare for copious amounts of fluff!





	1. Mini Vacation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from OTP-Fanfic-Ideas on Tumblr: “Person 1 is a pro at camping, and Person 2 has never been before. They decide to go camping together for the first time for a whole 5 days! Person 2 likes to see Person 1 happy, but why are there so many bugs?!”

“Read the last few things off again, will you?”

Kara is kneeling on the floor of the foyer, hands hovering over her impressive array of camping supplies.

Lena stands over her shoulder, Kara’s list of necessary gear in her hands. “Matches?”

“Check!”

“Sunscreen?”

“SPF 100!”

“Oh, thank God. Flashlights?”

“Got ‘em, and extra batteries too!”

“Then I believe we’re all set, Scout Leader Danvers!” Lena sets the list on the island behind her and rests her hands on Kara’s shoulders. “I’m looking forward to five days with you.”

Kara stands and turns to face Lena, and Lena’s arms shift to wrap around her neck.

“Me too. I’m so glad we were able to sync our vacations. No reporting or CEO-ing, right?”

“Right.” Lena takes a moment to fix Kara’s collar, adjusting it so that her super suit doesn’t peek out. “Although, that reminds me. If you end up running off to save the world, then I’m allowed to look over financial reports for as long as it takes you to get back. Deal?” Lena grins up at Kara innocently.

Kara sighs. “I suppose that’s fair. I hope for your sake that all the criminals and aliens in National City decide to take a break, you work too hard.”

Lena shrugs, and rises to kiss the pout off Kara’s lips. “Don’t hate the player. Ready to go?”

“Yes ma’am!

Kara turns toward their five bags of luggage--there’s no need to pack light when you’ve got super strength on your side--and picks up every one of them. Lena grabs her purse and keys and opens the door for Kara.

In the elevator, they resituate so that Lena is holding a reasonable two bags to Kara’s three. They don’t need any lobbymen or passersby raising eyebrows.

They load Lena’s personal car together, deciding that they prefer the intimacy of driving themselves, and the privacy that comes with no one in the world knowing just where in the woods you are.

It’s an easy drive, a fun drive. Lena watches the scenery rush by and listens to Kara belt the lyrics of 80s pop songs, a ghost of a smile on her face. Kara has one hand on the wheel and the other laced with Lena’s.

Lena looks over at her and smiles a bit wider, the fact that Kara feels so comfortable driving her car making her feel warm inside. It’s a little thing, but it’s all so… domestic. Even though Lena’s been in relationships before, for just as long as she’s been with Kara, she’s never gotten to this point of familiarity and comfort. And the best, and strangest, part: she’s not even frightened by it. For her entire life, she’s been so afraid of letting people in, of trusting them, for fear that they’ll just leave and she’ll feel more alone than before. This line of thought has haunted her every relationship, both romantic and platonic.

But, with Kara, everything is so _easy._ Kara is easy to love, and loves Lena easily. Lena feels like she _should_ be scared of the easiness of it all, of how blind love has made her, but when Kara’s blue eyes meet her green ones, and her nose crinkles as she beams at Lena like she hung the moon and the stars, she just… forgets to be afraid.

She feels like she could spend eternity lost in those blue depths.

And maybe that should scare her, too. That Kara leaves her so defenseless, helpless. But Kara has never given Lena a reason to distrust her, or made Lena think for a moment that she’s unwanted, so Lena lets herself get whisked away in the feeling of being loved, and loving in return.

She’s broken out of her stupor by Kara’s excited exclamation.

“Ooh! A Panda Express! Can we stop for potstickers?”

Lena chuckles at her girlfriend’s childlike glee when it comes to food. “Sure thing, darling.”

If both her hands weren’t already occupied, Lena is sure Kara would have fist pumped. “All right!”

Lena smiles to herself as Kara takes the next exit.

She’s definitely whipped.

* * *

They arrive to the campsite just as the sun is beginning to set. It’s not late enough to cast the forest in a particularly colorful glow just yet, which pleases Lena because it means they’ll get to watch the sunset together. Until she met Kara, Lena never used to make a point to watch the sunset. Since Kara revealed that the vibrant orange makes her feel a bit closer to Argo City, however, it’s become one of Lena’s favorite pastimes.

Kara parks at the end of a dirt road and turns the car key. “I’ll carry our bags, will you lock everything up?”

“Mhm,” Lena slips out of her seat and opens the trunk up for Kara. “My little packhorse,” she teases as Kara lifts the bags.

Kara straightens up a bit and shoots Lena a look of mock offense. “Little? Do you see these guns?” She flexes her biceps, a bit awkwardly due to the excessive quantity of camping gear tucked under each arm.

Lena snorts. “Yeah, yeah, we all know you’re 100% pure, unadulterated Kryptonian beefcake.”

“You know it,” Kara leans into Lena’s personal space. “And you love it,” she whispers, dropping a kiss to Lena’s cheek. She takes a step back and starts walking over to a grassy area, not too far from the car, and dumps their stuff.

“It’s possible,” Lena hums to herself.

“What was that, babe?”

“Oh, I’m not going to repeat myself. I know you heard me.”

That earns a belly laugh from Kara, and Lena smiles instinctively at the sound. She makes her way over to Kara’s grassy spot. “So, what do we do now?”

“Well, we can divide and conquer to get everything set up faster?” Kara turns toward Lena, already unzipping the first bag. “Do you know how to make a fire?”

Lena just raises an eyebrow.

“Can you pitch a tent?”

Another eyebrow joins the first.

“Alrighty then, we’ll ixnay on the dividing and conquering. I’ll teach you everything you need to know!” She stands and rubs her palms together, thinking as she takes in their surroundings. “Uh, let’s start with the fire, that’ll keep us warm and hold off the mosquitos.”

“Oh boy, I forgot about those wretched things.”

“It’s alright! We have bug spray! Let’s go find some sticks.”

* * *

Within the hour, they have a fire burning in a makeshift pit, a family-sized tent pitched and staked, and their sleeping bags laid out. A thick log sits on its side next to the fire, wide enough for the two of them. Kara used her super strength when she deemed it necessary, but refused to use her super speed, instead fully embracing her goal to teach Lena how to camp.

Kara stands in her signature Supergirl pose--legs shoulder width apart and hands on hips--as she surveys their handiwork. “I think we did a great job. Wanna sit on our log and watch the sunset?”

Lena grins at her lopsidedly. The normally intimidating pose combined with Kara’s cargo pants and baby blue windbreaker is an adorable contradiction. “Do I ever?”

Kara grins back, before dashing to a still-packed bag. She pulls out a warm, flannel blanket and a few bags of food. “I was also thinking we could roast marshmallows while we watch! We’ve got both Hershey’s bars and Reese’s cups, which do you want for the s’mores?”

“Pardon me?”

Kara tries not to gape as she looks back at Lena in disbelief. “Do you not know- Have you ever had a s’more?”

Lena’s blank stare is an answer in itself.

“Oh, Rao, that makes me want to lock your mom up even more than I already do.”

Lena scoffs. “Yeah, camping trips were never very high on the Luthor priority list, so I can’t say I’ve ever heard of a ‘s’more.’”

Kara smiles sympathetically as she stands. On her way over to Lena, she grabs the two long, skinny sticks she picked up earlier. She drops the sticks and food on her side of the log, sits beside Lena, and wraps the blanket around both of their shoulders.

“So, roasting marshmallows and making s’mores is a classic camping tradition. You slide a marshmallow onto the end of a long stick and hold it over the fire, like so,” Kara’s actions mirror her words. “Some people like to wait until the marshmallow is a perfect golden brown, and others, like myself, just catch it on fire then blow it out.”

“You know, that doesn’t surprise me.”

Kara playfully knocks their shoulders together. She dips her marshmallow into the flames, draws it out, waits a few seconds, then blows.

Lena tries not to turn her nose up at the sight of the charred-to-hell marshmallow.

Kara is unbothered. “Now, you make the s’more, which is like a dessert sandwich. You use graham crackers as the ‘bread,’ and the marshmallow and some form of chocolate as the innards. I like to make mine with Reese’s cups.” She expertly uses two graham cracker squares, one with a Reese’s cup on it, to slide her marshmallow off the stick. “Voila!”

In an impressive display of self-control, Kara doesn’t devour it on the spot, instead setting it down on her thigh. “Your turn!”

The light from the fire highlights the hollows of Lena’s face as she focuses on roasting her marshmallow to an even golden brown and preparing her s’more with a Hershey’s bar.

When she’s done, Kara reclaims her own s’more, and lifts it to eye level. Her eyes sparkle as she gazes into Lena’s. “To the first night of our little vacation, to new experiences, and to the most beautiful girlfriend I could ask for.”

Lena ‘clinks’ her s’more with Kara’s, and looks at her with lovestruck awe. “You are something else, Kara Danvers.”

Kara shines her best closed mouth, eye-and-nose crinkling smile, and Lena feels her heart skip a beat.

They both go to take a bite when Kara’s eyes dart down a few inches and widen, almost comically.

“Lena, don’t freak out, but there’s a spider in your hair.”

The response is immediate: Lena freezes up and her eyes bulge even wider than Kara’s. She whisper-yells, as if she’s worried the spider will hear her, “What are you waiting for?! Get it out!!!”

“Oh! Uh…” Kara quickly pinches it from Lena’s hair and tosses it to the ground. She scrapes her hand along the log.

“Jesus, Kara, you crushed it!”

“I’m sorry! I panicked!”

“It’s alright.” Lena exhales deeply as she peers down at what’s left of the spider. She scans the grass surrounding their log for more bugs, but is unable to make out much due to the darkening sky. “Do you mind if we finish our s’mores in the tent?”

Kara is already standing and offering a hand to Lena. “I’m right there with you. We can leave the door flap open so we can still see the sunset.”

Lena accepts her hand, letting Kara pull her gently to her feet. “You know I really am enjoying camping, more than I expected to, but-”

“Why are there so many bugs?”

“Exactly.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please feel free to suggest a prompt or just comment in general either below or on Twitter! (@katquarius) I don't bite :)


	2. Give it 30 Minutes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from OTP-Fanfic-Ideas on Tumblr: “Watching a scary horror movie and trying to pretend not to be scared during and after the movie.”

Contrary to popular belief, due to her famously bubbly personality, Kara loves horror movies. Her favorites are the ones that are just the right combination of legitimately scary and hilariously campy. Essentially, she loves the surge of adrenaline she gets from a particularly suspenseful scene, but prefers not to stay awake with nightmares.

Lena, on the other hand, can’t stand any breed of scary movie. She hasn’t watched one since a college fling took her to the midnight viewing of “Saw,” during which she jumped so vehemently that she dumped popcorn all over her lap. Needless to say, it wasn’t a very good date. Lena would rather not relive that experience. Besides, she has been the victim of numerous assassination attempts, abductions, et cetera. She likes to avoid spiking her blood pressure unnecessarily.

However, blonde superhero girlfriends have a habit of throwing a wrench into many of the items on Lena’s to-don’t list.

* * *

“It’s your turn to choose the movie, what’ll it be?” Lena asks, sitting to the right of a pajama-clad Kara. After a long week, they’re both eager to unwind with a cozy date in.

Kara takes a chip from the bowl Lena brought from the kitchen and continues clicking absently through Netflix, a furrow in her brow as she thinks. “I was thinking something scary, maybe ‘Psycho?’”

Lena tries her best to maintain a cool expression as she stares at the TV, and it would have worked on the vast majority of the population.

Unfortunately for her, Kara is a bit of an exception.

She picks up on the ever-so-slightly elevated heart rate of the woman next to her, and turns her head to raise a concerned eyebrow. “Is that alright with you?”

Lena can’t stand scary movies. Maybe it’s the Luthor genes, or her businesswoman mentality, but she’s also _just_ a bit too proud to admit that. 

“That’s fine with me,” she replies, wincing internally at how strained her voice sounds.

Kara hesitates for a moment, unconvinced, but decides to let the moment play out. “Okay!” she responds cheerily, overdoing her excitement in an attempt to let Lena save face.

She presses play on the remote and peeks at Lena out of the corner of her eye. 

Lena’s gaze is still set firmly on the screen, jaw set and chin tipped up slightly. 

Kara sinks into the cushions and smiles to herself, eyes back on the screen. She has a sneaking suspicion that Lena’s tough-guy facade will start to crack within half an hour, so she sits back and waits for the night to get even cozier.

* * *

Kara wins the bet against herself with time to spare. 

It only takes ten minutes for Lena to snake a hand out of their nest of blankets and find Kara’s, lacing their fingers together. If she squeezes a bit too hard, Kara acts like she doesn’t notice, which isn’t a difficult feat for the girl made of steel.

It’s twenty minutes until Lena scoots closer to Kara on the couch and tucks her legs underneath her, their sides and outer thighs pressing together.

At the half hour mark, Lena lowers her head onto Kara’s shoulder. Kara responds by releasing Lena’s hand, wrapping that arm around her, and offering her other hand for Lena to grip. When they’re situated, Kara drops a kiss to the top of her head for good measure.

Once an hour has passed, and they’ve shifted so that Lena is all but lying on top of Kara, head on her chest and fingers fisting in her shirt, with Kara’s arms wrapped securely around her, and the bowl of chips forgotten, Kara is sure that Lena realizes her little ‘I’m petrified of scary movies’ cat is out of the bag. She decides to speak up, loving the cuddling, but ready to put Lena out of her misery.

“We don’t have to finish it, you know,” she whispers.

Lena shifts, tenses up even more than she already was. “Why wouldn’t I want to finish?” Her tone is soft, but stubborn.

Kara slides her hands up and down her back. “Lena, sweetie, you’ve been practically trembling for over an hour. There’s no shame in not liking scary movies. We can watch something else, or-”

“I mean, if _you_ don’t want to finish it then I suppose we can stop.”

And there it is. Kara smiles. She tries not to let her grin creep into her voice. “Yeah, I don’t really want to finish, I’ve watched it a bunch of times already.”

“Okay.”

Kara reaches for the remote and exits out of “Psycho.” She scrolls for a bit and settles on “The Princess Bride,” one of their favorites. 

Despite herself, Lena sighs in relief, her fingers relaxing where they’re still embedded in Kara’s top. Her eyes flick up to Kara’s for a moment, before returning to the screen. “It wasn’t even that scary. I just didn’t really like it.”

She delivers the line with such conviction that it takes everything in Kara not to laugh aloud. Instead, she nods, and feigns a serious look of understanding. “I see.”

Lena squints briefly at Kara once more, gauging whether or not she’s being believed. She relents, and lays her head back down on Kara’s chest.

* * *

A while later, when it’s pitch black in Kara’s apartment but for the idling Netflix logo on the TV, and they’re lying wrapped up in each other, neither ready to get up yet, Lena breaks the silence.

“Thank you.” 

It’s barely a whisper, and Kara wonders if she would have missed it if it weren’t for her super hearing. She smiles for what feels like the thousandth time that evening, which isn’t all that surprising because she smiles whenever she’s around Lena, and pulls her girlfriend impossibly closer.

“You’re welcome.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, please feel free to suggest a prompt or just comment in general either below or on Twitter! (@katquarius)


	3. Christmas in July

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from OTP-Fanfic-Ideas on Tumblr: “Person 1 is singing Christmas songs in the middle of July just to tick Person 2 off. Person 1 won’t shut up until Person 2 kisses them suddenly, and says ‘if kissing you is the only way to shut you up, then I can do this all night long…’”
> 
> I changed this one a bit, I don't think Kara is the type of person to purposefully tick Lena off!

Lena is finishing up a task in her home office while she waits for Kara to arrive at her apartment. Her window is open to let the warm, summer breeze chase away the staleness of the room. She half expects Supergirl to use it, since that’s faster than Kara taking the elevator up to the penthouse suite, but she hears a knock at the door instead.

“Come in!” she calls through the open office door and down the hall. Lena hears the sound of her front door opening and smiles. Kara has a key, but always knocks first anyway.

“Hey, Lena!”

“Hi, babe! You can make yourself comfortable, I’ll just be a minute.”

“Okay!”

Lena focuses back on her blueprint, the sound of Kara pitter-pattering around the kitchen a welcome source of white noise.

A few minutes later, Kara’s sounds no longer take the form of white noise.

 

_“Oh, the weather outside is frightful,_

_But the fire is so delightful,”_

 

Lena looks up and squints toward her doorway. That song is familiar… but surely Kara isn’t singing a Christmas song, right? It’s the middle of July!

 

_“And since we've no place to go,_

_Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.”_

 

That is a Christmas song!

Huffing and grumbling, Lena pushes herself up from her chair and marches through the door. She barely tolerates Christmas songs during the appropriate time of year, so Christmas songs in the summer get her all in a funk.

 

_“It doesn't show signs of stopping,_

_And I've brought some--”_

 

“Kara!”

Kara cuts off mid stanza and stumbles a bit as she whirls toward Lena.

“Uh, what?”

“What are you doing?!”

“Making popcorn! It’s movie night, so I was getting us a snack. What’s the problem?”

She’s genuinely confused, and Lena resists the urge to walk over and smooth the cute little furrow in her brow. Or rub her own temples.

“The problem is, you’re singing ‘Let it Snow’ and it’s literally July!”

“Oh, well I wasn’t singing it because it’s a Christmas song, I was singing it because I was making our ‘corn for popping,’ and that’s a line from the song, you know? So it got stuck in my head.”

Lena feels some of her temper subside. “Oh. I, uh, I suppose that makes sense.”

Kara walks past Lena toward the couch, popcorn in hand, and pauses to drop a kiss on Lena’s cheek.

 

_“The lights are turned down low,_

_Let it snow, let it snow, let it--”_

 

Kara is interrupted for the second time in two minutes when Lena grabs her free arm, tugs her around, and kisses her firmly on the lips. Kara inadvertently dumps popcorn all over the floor as her hands automatically come up to cradle Lena’s face.

“If.” Kiss. “You.” Kiss. “Don’t stop singing goddamn Christmas songs.” Lena’s tongue darts between Kara’s parted lips. “We’ll.” Kiss. “Just.” Kiss. “Have to do this all night.” Lena bites Kara’s bottom lip.

When she finally pulls away, Kara is blushing and breathless.

“I don’t have a problem with that,” she whispers meekly.

“Great, me neither.” Lena connects their lips again and walks Kara backwards to the couch, popcorn crunching under their feet.

They never got around to watching their movie, but at least Lena didn’t have to listen to any more Christmas songs, either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please feel free to suggest a prompt or just comment in general either below or on Twitter! (@katquarius)
> 
> Also, in the future I may start writing chapters without concrete prompts, since I have some of my own ideas that I'm excited about. :)


	4. Is That My Sweatshirt?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lena wears Kara’s clothes for the first time when Kara is hurt and Lena is worried sick.

It was five on a Tuesday morning when Lena jolted upright, woken by her phone ringing.

She didn’t even have time to say hello before she heard Alex’s frantic voice coming through the speakers, a rushed ‘Get here quick, it’s Kara,’ before she choked on a sob and hung up. 

Lena knew it must have been bad if Alex--cool, calm, and collected Alex--was so shaken.

She shot out of bed and sprinted to the front door of her apartment in her pajamas, barely sparing a couple seconds to grab her purse and the closest pair of shoes. With shaking hands, she jabbed at the down arrow of the elevator, cursing the fact that she lives on the penthouse floor.

In a few short minutes, she was peeling out of the underground parking garage, heart thumping loudly in her ears as she tried to focus on getting to the DEO in one piece instead of thinking about what could be wrong with Kara.

That was, unsurprisingly, futile, and a hundred different ways she could lose Kara assaulted her mind before the drive was over.

Lena burst through the door, panic and determination evident on her face in equal proportions. “Where is she?!”

“Right this way, Miss Luthor.” A young agent quickly guided her to a medbay, the one Lena knew housed the yellow sun lamps. “She isn’t currently awake, but you may see her.”

When Lena entered the room, she stopped in her tracks, and couldn’t help the fearful gasp that escaped her throat. 

Thin, vibrant green lines snaked and webbed across every visible inch of Kara’s skin, or rather, underneath it. Lena knew it was Kryptonite. She knew that Kara had dealt with the substance in the past, but she could feel it in her gut that this was worse than being exposed to Kryptonite emitters, or getting shot by little green bullets.

No. This time, Kara had Kryptonite running through her veins.

And that is far more difficult to overcome.

Lena’s eyes didn’t leave her face until the doctor pulled back the top of the sheet that was resting just beneath the crest of the House of El. Lena stepped closer, and most of her questions were answered immediately. 

The blue shirt of Kara’s uniform was untucked and rolled up, revealing a three inch gash in her abdomen. It was cleaned and dressed, but glowed green between the stitches.

She felt sick, and half listened to the agent explain the events of the night as she mindlessly reached a hand out to hover over Kara’s stomach.

“Supergirl was patrolling the city when a billboard fell, so she caught it just before it could land on the pedestrians below. While she was still holding it above her head, a hostile came out of nowhere and stabbed her in the back with a Kryptonite blade. We believe that the falling billboard was a ploy to get Supergirl into a vulnerable position. We are still trying to determine how he managed to acquire, or fabricate, such a weapon.”

Lena spun on the agent, emerald eyes blown wide in what appeared to be anger, but was really suppressed fear. “Why aren’t you trying to determine how to save her, huh?” Her voice was rising out of panic, even though she knew she wasn’t being logical. “Shouldn’t that be your biggest concern right now?”

“It is, ma’am, the doctors are working on it, I promise.”

Placated for the time being, Lena turned numbly back to Kara, and allowed the doctor to pick up where the agent left off.

“Fortunately, the weapon did not pierce any of her internal organs. She is bleeding internally, but not enough to warrant emergency surgery, so we have her on intravenous fluids for now. That helps to prevent a drop in blood pressure, but we also hope it will help flush the Kryptonite out.” 

“Is she going to make it?” Lena’s voice was uncharacteristically small.

“We think so. It is difficult to tell, though, because internal damage to the abdomen is an iffy business. Sometimes the body is able to heal itself, but other times the pressure put on the internal organs from misplaced blood is too severe, and even surgery cannot solve the problem.” She paused for a moment. “As you know, Kryptonite renders her powerless, so she will not have her healing capabilities while it still runs through her veins. Until we find a way to remove the Kryptonite, Supergirl is at God’s mercy, same as the rest of us.”

Lena was silent for a moment, processing the news. “Is Alex here?”

“Agent Danvers left briefly after calling you. She went to try and find the hostile.” 

Lena nodded. She’s learned through the various hardships she’s faced that everyone deals with grief differently.

She took in the sight of Kara on the medical table, scanning her from head to toe.

Kara appeared strangely peaceful. Every muscle was relaxed, and there were no furrows in the eyebrows above her closed eyes. There was no evidence that she was struggling for her life. The only signs of her condition were the gruesome wound and the visible effects of the Kryptonite. She looked like she was sleeping--basking under the glow of the yellow sun lamps. A thought flitted through Lena’s mind right then, but she pushed it out as rapidly as it had come: Kara would look no different if she was dead.

The heart rate and brainwave monitors said otherwise, though, so Lena allowed herself to take a deep breath as she sat gingerly in the empty chair by Kara’s side.

“I’ll be here for a while, if that’s okay.” The second half of the sentence was technically asking for permission, but Lena did not deliver it as such. Her tone indicated more of an ‘I’ll be here for a while, try to stop me.’

“Of course, Miss Luthor. Let us know if you need anything.”

Lena nodded as the agent and doctor left and closed the door behind them.

When they were alone, Lena reached out and took Kara’s hand in hers, gripping it tightly, as if maybe she could will Kara better. In her other hand, Lena cradled Kara’s face, her thumb swiping gently over her cheekbone.

“Hi, sweetheart,” she breathed, the corners of her lips turning down in the universal ‘trying not to cry’ expression. “The pessimist in me is almost positive you can’t hear any of this, but now is not the time for pessimism, so I’m just going to talk as if you can hear me.” She spoke quietly, her voice breaking on some of the words.

“Even when you’re out saving lives all evening, we always find time to talk about our days once you get home. It doesn’t even matter what time you get back. If it’s early enough, and I’m still awake reading or working, we talk then. If it’s later, then I wake up when you crawl into bed, and we share the day’s ups and downs in the dark.”

She looked down at her own lap. “I don’t think I’ve ever told you this, but those conversations are some of my favorite moments with you. I am so grateful that I found someone who cares about how that board meeting went, and someone who wants to know what I had for lunch. It makes me feel so cherished. You make me feel so cherished, Kara Danvers.”

She glanced back up at Kara’s face, hoping, even though she knew it was silly, to see a smile there.

No such luck, but she didn’t let it discourage her.

“Since you didn’t end up coming home tonight, I thought that I could tell you about my day now, and then you can tell me about yours when you wake up.” Lena swallowed the lump in her throat, willing herself to stay strong for Kara’s sake. “Let’s see...”

* * *

The first day was a sharp pain. It was like all Lena could think about was Kara and the accident and ‘is she going to be okay?’ Her life was put on hold while she sat by Kara’s bedside; talking to her, studying her face, crying beside her when she felt particularly overwhelmed.

The second day was a dull pain. It wasn’t as if she could really do anything to help. The doctors were doing as much as they could to heal Kara, and the DEO agents were trying to apprehend her attacker. Smart as she was, Lena wasn’t a doctor nor an agent.

All that was left for her was to go back to work.

She made sure that her schedule was as jam-packed as possible with meetings, and filled in the gaps by working on her various projects. She didn’t want so much as a spare second to actively worry about Kara, knowing that it wouldn’t help her recover faster. She figured it was better to cope with a dull background pain than be consumed by the sharper pain. So, she led board meetings, designed blueprints, and tinkered in her lab. She read financial reports, sent emails, and made phone calls. She didn’t even stop for lunch, not having the stomach for it.

Lena was miserable, and she couldn’t even talk to anyone about it. All of her friends that knew about Kara’s condition were busy working at the DEO, and the few other people who she might have been willing to open up to weren’t aware of the whole ‘my girlfriend is Supergirl’ situation.

Her assistant, Jess, picked up on her grim demeanor and asked if anything was wrong, and it was all Lena could do not to burst into tears of sadness, fear, and frustration on the spot. She obviously couldn’t tell Jess the full truth, but she also couldn’t even divulge a partial truth. What was she to say, that Kara is in the hospital with a stab wound? That she is bleeding internally and might not make it? No, even the limited truths were too extreme, and would have Jess demanding that Lena take off work, or worse yet, would have Jess requesting to visit Kara herself. The two of them had become closer since Kara and Lena began dating, and Lena did not want to start making ridiculous excuses to explain why Jess could not, in fact, visit Kara.

So she brushed Jess off, as she had done a hundred times before, and assured her that she was fine. Just stressed, is all.

Lena longed with every fiber of her being for that to really be the case. But it wasn’t, and no matter of yearning would change the fact of the matter, so she got back to work.

* * *

Lena woke up on the third day with a voicemail from Alex letting her know that there had been no chance in Kara’s status, so it’d be fine for her to head to work again. Alex promised to call her if there was a development.

However, Lena didn’t feel like going to work again and pretending like everything was fine. She had already tried that, and it didn’t work as well as she’d hoped--she was certain that Jess would be even more assertive today. Granted, Lena was very productive on that second day, but quite frankly, being productive didn’t rank very high on her priority list at the moment.

Lena was strong for Kara on the first day, worked herself to exhaustion on the second, and now, she was ready to wallow.

She got up from Kara’s side of the bed, where she had spent the last two nights, and made for the bathroom. She allowed herself to cry freely in the shower, and sniffled as she brushed her teeth, towel wrapped under her arms. She didn’t bother to apply any makeup, and donned her black rimmed glasses in lieu of contacts. After pausing for a moment to take in her own reflection, noticing her blotchy skin and red-rimmed eyes, she padded to her and Kara’s shared closet. She pulled out some undergarments, as well as Kara’s National City University sweatshirt and a pair of her black cuffed sweatpants. She hesitated as she looked down at them, before tossing them on the bed.

Despite having dated for nearly a year now, it struck Lena that she had never worn Kara's clothes. Lena figured this a good a time as any to start. She dropped her towel and dressed sluggishly, then retrieved the towel to squeeze out the remaining water in her wavy, stringy hair before throwing it up in a hasty bun.

The rest of the morning creeped by mercilessly. Lena made coffee, dumping in more sugar than her usual order, and prepared pancakes. Out of habit, she tripled the recipe, as Kara’s appetite was insatiable. The sheer amount of leftovers just served as a bitter reminder that she was alone in their apartment.

She pittered around absentmindedly for a while after breakfast, tidying here and there, putting on a record, before settling down on the couch with a thick book and a glass of red wine. It wasn’t yet noon, but that hardly seemed to matter in the grand scheme of things.

A few hours later, she was huddled within a massive nest of blankets and pillows, sweatshirt hood drawn up, and sniffling as she watched the end of her second romcom of the day. It was refreshing to cry over something other than Kara for a little while. Unfortunately, as soon as the movie ended, it put things in perspective for Lena, and not for the better. The plights of the movie characters were so insignificant when compared to Kara’s peril that it just made Lena feel worse. Her problem wasn’t a ‘my parents don’t approve of our love’ or an ‘oh no I’m sixteen and pregnant.’

Lena’s problem was that her girlfriend could die.

The moment she really let those words sink in, she felt like she’d been slapped in the face. She felt so silly. Kara was in mortal danger and Lena had been spending all day moping about as if she’d been dumped.

She realized that even though it’s painful for her to look at Kara lying stock-still beneath the yellow sun lamps, it’s also her duty. She would sit by Kara and wouldn’t move until all of this was over, for better or for worse. Kara needed her. Lena _would_ be by her side when she woke. And if, God forbid, she never woke, then Lena would forever cherish the last moments she was able to spend beside her love.

Just as she began to emerge from her cocoon and make for the door, with a huff and a determined furrow in her brow, Lena’s phone buzzed in her pocket.

“Alex?”

“Lena! We’ve figured out how to remove the Kryptonite, so now she’s able to heal on her own and should be conscious soon!”

It was all Lena could do not to shrink into the speaker in glee. She let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding, and felt every muscle in her body sag in relief. 

“Oh, thank God, I’m already on my way!” She hung up and let out a hysterical laugh, her eyes pricking with relieved tears even as a smile threatened to split her face in half.

Kara was going to be okay.

* * *

“Kara!” Lena dropped her purse in the doorway as soon as her eyes landed on the blonde sitting up in the sunbed, looking a bit drowsy but no worse for wear. She ran to the bedside, falling to her knees as she grasped Kara’s hand in both of hers and pressed the back of it to her forehead. “I was so worried about you,” she pressed a kiss to the back of Kara’s hand before looking up at her face, and fought the urge to dissolve into tears upon locking onto striking, bright blue eyes for the first time in three days. 

“Lena,” her name fell from Kara’s lips like a sigh, and Lena couldn’t remember ever hearing a more perfect sound.

“Oh, Kara, I’ve been a disaster without you,” Lena whispered. “Don’t you _ever_ do that again, do you hear me?” She tried for stern, but her voice cracked on the last clause as she squeezed Kara’s hand, devoiding her command of any real vigor.

“Yes.”

“Good.” Lena sniffled. “Now, how do you feel?”

Kara cast Lena a dazed, but loving smile. “Tired, but not in any pain. They pumped me full of morphine while I didn’t have my powers, and now that I have them back my wounds are almost totally healed, but the drugs haven’t worn off yet. How are you?”

Lena was taken aback.

Only Kara Danvers, who was dying in a hospital bed up until ten minutes ago, would be sweet and selfless enough to ask someone else how _they_ were doing. Lena felt a wave of affection crash over her and swiftly rose to her feet, leant forward, and pressed a soft kiss to Kara’s lips.

Kara smiled into the familiar feeling of Lena as she kissed back. “That good, huh?”

Lena pulled away just enough to press their foreheads together, and replied in a hushed tone. “You have no idea.” She rubbed their noses in an eskimo kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Kara’s eyes crinkled in the way that sets butterflies loose in Lena’s stomach. “Sit with me?”

Kara shifted to the opposite side of the bed, leaving enough room for Lena to kick her shoes off and join her, so that her front was pressed to Kara’s side. Lena laid her head on Kara’s shoulder as Kara’s arm raised to wrap comfortingly around her shoulders, effectively assuming their go-to cuddling position. Lena hesitantly draped an arm over Kara’s waist, careful to avoid the mostly-healed slit on her abdomen.

They sat in silence for a while, relishing in each other’s company after spending too long apart. 

Kara was the first to speak.

“Hey, is that my hoodie?”

Lena flushed red, she had forgotten about her appearance as soon as she got the call from Alex.

“Yeah… and these are your sweatpants too.”

Kara grinned, pulling Lena closer and dropping a kiss to her hairline. “I like seeing you in my clothes.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

As Lena burrowed her head into the space between Kara’s neck and shoulder, a smirk ghosting her lips, she made a mental note to raid Kara’s side of the closet more often.

All of a sudden, a memory came flooding back to her. “Oh, Kara!”

“Hm?”

“I told you all about my day when you were first hurt, and I told you that you’ll have to do the same when you wake up. Will you tell me about your Monday? You can leave out the stabbing part.”

Kara laughed, and Lena smiled as Kara’s strong chest rumbled underneath her head.

“Of course, babe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments make my day! You can leave prompt suggestions here or on Twitter! (@katquarius) :)


	5. Meeting Morgana

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from OTP-Prompts-For-You on Tumblr: “Dialogue Prompts #5: ‘Why is there a cat in my house?’ ‘You weren’t supposed to be home yet.’ ‘That does not answer my question.’”

Kara was walking home from CatCo, boats sailing on the bay to her left and a long strip of grass and trees lining the right side of the asphalt path. It was a beautiful day, the light spring breeze tugging at wisps of her hair, pulling them out of her updo as she meandered down the sidewalk. 

Normally, she was a very driven, busy person, always running around getting the latest scoop for an article or saving the day as Supergirl. She wasn’t in any hurry today, though, seeing as alien activity was at an all-time low, so she decided to take the scenic route home and quite literally stop and smell the roses.

Plus, she knew that Lena would still be at work for a while longer, so there was no rush to get ready for their date in.

Kara tilted her head back and smiled as she basked in the warm light of the late afternoon sun, listening to the birds chirping in the sky and the children running amok in the playground a couple hundred feet ahead.

A subdued, out of place sound piqued her interest, and she stopped walking to close her eyes and tune out the background noise so that she could determine the source. 

It was the mewing of a cat, a half mile up the path. She discreetly tipped down the frame of her glasses to use her x-ray vision. Scanning the area ahead, she pinpointed the animal stuck up in a tree. Curiously, there weren’t any probable owners calling for help by the base of the tree, and she quickened her pace to a reasonable speedwalk for a human.

She came to a stop beneath the cat perched on a branch a good twelve feet off the ground.

“Hi, little guy,” Kara cooed, “I’m gonna get you down, hold on just a second.”

The park wasn’t overly crowded, but she didn’t want to take any chances. She inconspicuously slipped behind one of the bigger shrubs along the path and changed into her suit, ruffling her hair into her signature beach waves as she emerged a moment later. She floated up to the branch and gently took the kitten, probably around six months old, securely into her arms.

“Where is your family, huh?” Kara glided back down to the ground, looking around with a confused furrow in her brow.

“I suppose you’re a stray, then. It’s alright. I was kind of a stray too, but then a new family took me in as their own. We’ll find you a home, buddy. Let me get a look at you.”

She held the cat up with a hand beneath each of its front legs so that it was facing her.

It was a shorthair, and its stick-straight fur was pitch black from head to toe, but vestiges of auburn shone through in the sun. 

A pang of nostalgia struck Kara as memories of her childhood pet, Streaky, flooded back to her. He was instrumental in teaching her how to control her powers and live as a human, since she loved that cat but didn’t want to hurt him.

As she lamented, piercing sage green eyes caught hers, and she was taken aback for a moment. She knew those eyes--they were her favorite pair. Even the little flecks of yellow were there, and the green was so light that she knew they’d look blue from a distance.

It was as if Lena Luthor herself had been animorphed, and Kara knew she wouldn’t be able to pass the cat off to a stranger.

“Oh, Rao,” she said with a resigned sigh, curling the kitten back into her chest. It rubbed its whiskers against her contentedly.

“I’m going to end up keeping you, aren’t I?”

She resumed her stroll toward her apartment, a trace of a smile on her lips as the bundle of fur in her arms began to purr.

“I sure hope my landlord will let this slide.”

* * *

As it turned out, her landlord would not, in fact, let it slide.

Not really knowing what else to do, Kara called Lena at around five, asking if she could come over a little early for their date. Lena said that it was no problem at all, and Kara could just use her key, and Lena would be home at around seven.

That was how Kara found herself sitting in Lena’s living room, idly stroking the kitten in her lap as she contemplated the best way to explain to her girlfriend that she really wanted to keep the cat but couldn’t actually keep the cat so maybe-could-it-live-here-with-you-please? She knew it was certainly unfair to make Lena bear the brunt of Kara’s impulse decision, but Kara couldn’t bring herself to part with Lena-cat. She knew Lena wasn’t allergic, and cats are so independent that it wouldn’t be a huge lifestyle adjustment for her, so she didn’t anticipate the cat itself to be that big of a problem. Kara was just worried that Lena would feel blindsided and irritated at her for all but making this relatively significant life decision on her behalf.

Since Kara always has an ear out for her heartbeat, Lena usually can’t sneak up on her, but the sound of a key jostling the tumbler locks of Lena’s front door startled her out of her nervous spiralling. She glanced at her watch. It was only 6:20, Lena was early! Kara hadn’t enough time to solidify her plan! She plastered a warm smile on her face as Lena walked in, a hand scratching the cat’s ears in what she hoped was a natural manner despite her anxiety.

“Hi, darling, I’m sorry to have kept you waiting. How was your da-” Lena trailed off as she came around the side of the couch and identified Kara and her plus one. “Um, why is there a cat in my house?”

“I- uh- you weren’t supposed to be home yet?”

Lena frowned, but it was more of a confused look than a perturbed one. “That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Right. Well, uh, I found it in a tree today and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t have a human or a cat family, so I kinda felt a connection to it, you know, and also it really looks like-” Kara’s eyes widened as she caught her faux pas. “It looks like… my childhood cat,” she deflected, her eyes betraying her as she sneaked a peek and Lena’s face before quickly looking away--the universal body language of ‘I’m lying because I’m embarrassed.’

Lena wasn’t fooled, as evident by her slightly narrowed eyes, but graciously didn’t prod Kara. She was a smart woman. She had looked into a mirror once or twice. She only had to glance at the cat’s face for the truth to dawn on her. Lena had to admit, she was touched, and felt warm inside at the thought of Kara being drawn to her feline doppelganger. She didn’t want Kara to know that she was already starting to cave, however, so she kept her face neutral. She looked back up at her girlfriend’s distressed expression and raised an eyebrow, an invitation for her to continue.

“So, I decided to take it home, but my landlord reminded me that I can’t have pets in my apartment, so I was wondering if you were interested in adopting a cat? Please?” She finished with a weak, but genuine and hopeful smile.

Those puppy dog eyes were going to be the death of Lena.

She was quiet for a moment, an idea starting to take shape in her mind.

“Boy or girl?”

“Girl.”

Lena nodded thoughtfully. “Hold on a second.” She turned to start walking toward her bedroom, casting an endearingly shy smile at Kara over her shoulder as she disappeared through the doorway.

A minute later she returned, her right hand making a fist and her eyes alight with cautious optimism. Kara thought it an interesting turn of the tables, for she went into this conversation feeling the same way.

Lena sat beside Kara on the couch and met her eyes.

“I’ll keep the cat-”

Kara’s face split into an ecstatic smile.

“But,” Lena unfurled her hand, revealing a shiny silver key. “Only if you move in with me, too.”

Lena didn’t think it possible, but Kara managed to grin even wider, and quickly slid the cat off her lap so she could launch herself into Lena’s arms. She squeezed her for a moment, a barely contained mass of pure Kryptonian glee, before pulling away and pecking Lena hastily on the corner of her mouth.

“Of course I will!” Kara borderline squealed, “I can’t believe you just asked like it was nothing, I’ve been thinking about how to ask you for weeks! And, oh my goodness, thank you so much for agreeing to keep her. You won’t regret having us around, I promise.”

Lena looked down at the cat as her own grin overtook her face. “No, I don’t imagine I will.”

Kara gazed at Lena with unbridled adoration, and reached out to let Lena place the key in her hand, when a thought struck her. She tilted her head and her eyes turned quizzical. “Hey, didn’t you already give me a key so I could get in here when you work late?”

Lena’s cheeks flushed a pretty pink, and Kara tried not to smile. Flustered Lena was one of her favorite Lenas, since only Kara was privileged enough to see her vulnerable. It always made her feel special.

“Uh, yes,” Lena briskly recovered from her indignity and tilted her chin up in a challenge, the spitting image of Luthor pride. “But, I figured that it wouldn’t be a proper offer without a key. I suppose I hoped you wouldn’t notice, but alas.”

Kara snorted at that. “Come ‘ere.” She pulled Lena gently toward her by the lapels of her blazer and pressed a sweet kiss to her lips, both women smiling into it.

When they parted, Lena sat back on her heels and stared at Kara in enamored bewilderment. “I still can’t believe you just walked in here expecting me to just adopt your cat.”

“I still can’t believe it worked,” Kara teased.

Lena rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “You’re cleaning the litter box for the first year.”

“I guess I deserve that. But I’m naming her.”

“What’s it gonna be, then?”

Kara looked over at the black cat with the striking green eyes, curled up in a ball in the middle of a rug. Over the past few hours, she’d learned that the kitten is a sweetheart, but has a bit of a naughty streak. Kara had already vowed to replace the picture frame the little rascal knocked off of Lena’s end table earlier, and promptly shattered. She was the perfect combination of light and dark, sweet and sour, to keep them on their toes. As if to prove Kara’s point, the cat hopped back up on the couch, batted Kara’s hand as she reached out to pet her, then curled up in Lena’s lap.

“Morgana.” Kara nodded firmly at her selection, even more sure of the name after hearing it roll off her lips.

“Morgana? That’s a Celtic name. I like it.”

“Me too,” Kara grinned back at her. “Oh! I totally hijacked our date night by dropping this bomb on you. What do you want to do tonight?”

“Well, we should probably take a trip to PetSmart before Morgana has an accident.”

Kara immediately stood and offered Lena a hand. “‘Nuff said.” 

After pulling Lena up, Kara adjusted her grip so that their fingers were laced together, and gestured to the front door with her other hand. “After you.”

* * *

A couple weeks later, after Kara had brought the last box from her old apartment to Lena’s and was officially all moved in, they were taking a break from unpacking.

Kara was sitting back against the arm of the couch, head turned toward the TV as it quietly played old Friends reruns. Lena sat in a more reclined position between her legs, her back pressed to Kara’s front and her head resting on Kara’s chest as she flipped through a paperback book, which was propped up against the sleeping cat coiled in her lap.

Lena shifted to push her wide-brim glasses further up on her nose, and the movement drew Kara’s attention from the screen.

She couldn’t see Lena’s face at a proper angle, but if she peered over her shoulder she could make out her slightly pouty profile--her eyebrows always drew together and her lips pursed when she was enthralled in a good book--as well as Morgana snoozing contentedly.

As she took in the heartwarmingly domestic sight, Kara could hardly believe that this was her life now. She got to live with her favorite person, in _their_ apartment, with _their_ pet. They had a little family.

She leaned forward to kiss the top of Lena’s head, and she hummed in reply.

Kara couldn’t wait to see what else the future had in store for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a couple fun references in this one! Of course, Streaky the cat, who was in the original Supergirl comics as an orange cat with the same powers as Kara, but was written into the show as a black cat. As for the name Morgana, I mostly envisioned the whole "light and dark" combination thing as a tribute to the character Morgana in the show Merlin. (Also played by Katie McGrath!) She starts off as a sweet and kindhearted girl, but becomes a villain when fear, betrayal, and deeply rooted loneliness turn her to a life of vengeance. This light and dark dichotomy is also reflected in the stories of the real Morgan le Fay from Arthurian legend (the basis of the Morgana character in Merlin). She is a villain in most depictions, described as an evil enchantress trying to overthrow King Arthur. But, in earlier tellings of the story, she is a more benevolent figure, possessing healing powers that she once used to save Arthur's life. I love Morgana and Katie McGrath herself, so I thought I'd put an Easter egg as a tribute to both of them in my fic. I hope some of you enjoyed it, as well as this little explanation!
> 
> As always, please leave comments or prompt suggestions below or on Twitter. (@katquarius)


	6. Constellations and Confessions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from OTP-Fanfic-Ideas on Tumblr: “Late at night, Person 1 tells Person 2 that they want to show them something. Person 1 shows them to an expensive telescope they just bought, and wants to teach Person 2 all about astronomy. Person 2 has been an astronomy nerd all this time and Person 1 had no idea.”

The sky was just one shade bluer than pitch black when Kara was interrupted from her book by her phone ringing. She finished the sentence she was on and gently dog-eared the page before reaching over the arm of the couch for the phone, unsure of who would be calling her at this hour, given the fact that it was her personal phone ringing instead of the Supergirl one.

At the sight of the caller ID, her heart skipped a beat and the corners of her lips turned up instinctively. “Lena Luthor” glowed on the screen, and despite her giddiness, Kara couldn’t help the concern that crept into the back of her mind. Lena and Kara had plenty of lunch dates (as friends, Kara had to remind herself), and saw each other as CEO and reporter quite often, but that didn’t explain why Lena was calling her at ten in the evening. Kara immediately became worried that Lena was in some kind of danger and was trying to get in touch with Supergirl, as Lena believed Kara and Supergirl to be friends, making Kara the middle man.

She pressed the green button, lifted the phone to her ear, and tried to make her voice as calm as possible. “Hello?”

“Kara,” Lena all but sighed. It seemed as if she was always surprised when Kara was civil toward her, let alone when Kara reciprocated her attempts at friendship. It broke Kara’s heart to think about how Lena was conditioned to believe that she isn’t worthy of kindness, or of compassion, or of friends. Of love, in any sense of the word.

“Is everything okay?” Kara didn’t want to waste any time if something actually was wrong.

“Yes, everything is fine, I just wanted to show you something.”

Relief flooded through Kara, followed shortly by confusion and amusement at Lena’s vague offer. Even though Lena couldn’t see, her brows drew together as she replied, a slight smile gracing her lips. “What do you want to show me?”

“It’s a surprise. Come by my apartment?”

“Uh, sure! I’ll be there in like, ten minutes.” Of course, it’d only take her a matter of seconds to fly over, but she had a secret identity to uphold.

“Great, I’ll see you soon.”

“Bye, Lena.” Kara grinned as the other woman hung up. She stood and slipped her phone into her back pocket, then reached for her glasses that were resting on the end table. With a practiced ease, she pulled her hair back into a low ponytail with the band on her wrist. She gave herself a quick once over in the bathroom, nervously smoothing her shirt down and rubbing her palms along her jeans, before leaving her apartment and starting the walk to Lena’s place.

The thought of hanging out at Lena’s apartment, even for the short while it would take for Lena to show her whatever it was she wanted Kara to see, had the blonde as flustered as a schoolgirl. She was just drawn to Lena, like a moth to a flame. An incredibly beautiful, intelligent, funny, generous, flame. A flame that Kara wanted nothing more than to take out on a date, to kiss, to love.

Regretfully, Kara shook herself out of that train of thought. Lena needed a friend. She didn’t have any friends besides Kara, and kind of Supergirl, so really just Kara. Kara was the only person in the world Lena could turn to, the only person Lena trusted, and Kara would never jeopardize that by trying to turn their friendship into something more. That would be selfish of her, and she couldn’t call herself a hero if she was willing to risk robbing Lena of her only friend.

Oh, and the whole ‘hero’ thing was an entire other can of worms. Lena didn’t know that Kara is Supergirl, and Kara knew it would be unethical to have such a big secret as the foundation of a deeper relationship with her. It was already hard enough to have lunch with Lena as Kara and then turn around and save her life as Supergirl. Kara knew she wouldn’t be able to stomach kissing her, or becoming intimate with her, as Kara and then appearing later on as Supergirl, having to pretend that she didn’t know what it felt like to have Lena’s lips on hers, or Lena’s body underneath hers.

Lena didn’t even fully trust Supergirl. There’s no way that Lena would want to pursue a romantic relationship with Supergirl, so it would be cruel of Kara to pursue one with Lena.

It would be cruel, and it would be wrong, and it would continue to be cruel and wrong unless Kara told Lena the truth about her double identity. That was a non-option, though, because telling Lena the truth would put her life in danger, as Lena could be used by Kara’s enemies to get to Supergirl.

Kara felt stuck. She couldn’t act on her feelings for Lena, but she also couldn’t stay away. So, she just kept up the status quo. She was Lena’s sweet and bumbling and probably heterosexual reporter best friend--definitely not a superhero, and definitely not fostering a monumental crush on the CEO of L-Corp.

Resolve in place, Kara approached Lena’s building and pressed the button for her room, then entered the elevator when Lena buzzed her in. She knocked on the familiar door on the top floor and took a step back, hands clasped behind her. She tried not to wring them in time with the butterflies dancing in her chest.

Lena opened up a few moments later. “Kara, come in!” 

She stood back to permit Kara’s entrance, then closed the door behind her. “I apologize for inviting you so short notice, it’s just that this is a bit of a time-sensitive event.”

“It’s no problem at all! What is it that you want to show me? Why is it time-sensitive?”

“Well,” Lena glanced down as if she was nervous, or embarrassed. Kara wanted to reach out and tip her chin back up, but she bit her lip instead. “So I’m really into astronomy, and I have this beautiful telescope back in Metropolis. When I moved here, I didn’t really want to take anything from there with me. Bad memories, you know?”

Kara nodded, her eyebrows drawn up slightly in sympathy for her friend.

“But, it’s been a little while now, and I’ve really missed looking up at the stars and charting my findings,” a smile graced her delicate features, and she seemed nostalgic. “So, I decided to buy a new telescope. And I thought, well, I thought you might be interested in taking a look?”

She sounded unsure, vulnerable, and Kara was touched that this wonderful creature wanted to share one of her passions with her. Kara opened her mouth to reply, but when her eyes met Lena’s, pale green and brimming with hesitant hopefulness, and nothing short of breathtaking, no words came out.

Unfortunately, Lena took that as rejection. “But, uh, maybe that’s just silly.” She let out that little condescending laugh of hers, and her lips turned down at the corners. “It is pretty late and all.”

Kara’s eyes widened in panic. She reached out to take one of Lena’s hands in hers, desperate to make the other woman understand. “No, Lena, I would love to see your telescope. If it’s important to you, it’s important to me, too.” She gave her hand a little squeeze, and smiled, as if to emphasize the validity of her words.

She watched as the uncertainty in Lena’s eyes faded to relief. “Oh, well, it’s up on the roof.”

Kara turned back toward the door and, in a moment of weakness, playfully offered her arm to Lena. “Shall we?”

The edges of Lena’s lips barely quirked into a small smile, but Kara could see that her eyes were sparkling. She slotted her hand between Kara’s body and her arm, then curled it back so that she was gently gripping Kara’s bicep, just above the crook of her elbow. Lena took a step closer so that their sides were pressed together.

Not really expecting Lena to assume that intimate of a position, heat rushed to Kara’s cheeks. Her skin was aflame beneath the weight of Lena’s hand, and she had no one to blame but herself for their proximity. She silently cursed Rao’s name in her mind.

Lena opened the door with her free hand, and they made their way to the rooftop on foot. Kara’s jaw dropped as soon as she laid eyes on the telescope.

It was the biggest telescope Kara had ever seen on Earth, besides those in actual observatories. It was also gorgeous, made of polished brass and sleek cherry wood. It must have cost a few thousand dollars to buy, and almost just as much to transport.

Kara dropped Lena’s arm gently so that she could venture closer. “Lena,” she started reverently. “I’ve never seen anything like this. This is, this is amazing!”

Lena shrugged, but a smile pulled at her lips. It seemed as if her confidence had returned, and she looked the part of the CEO of a Fortune 500 company once again. “The telescope isn’t even the best part. It’s what it’s aimed at.”

Kara raised her eyebrows and gestured toward the telescope. “May I?”

“Of course,” Lena grinned. “I think you’ll find it beautiful.”

Kara was excited to see what Lena had found, but knew she wouldn’t find it half as beautiful as the sight of Lena standing on this rooftop with her. She looked radiant in the light of the near-full moon, pale skin glowing and the smile on her face as bright as the stars themselves. It was hard to look away, but Kara managed to turn around and approach the telescope’s eyepiece. She pushed her glasses up on her head, closed one eye, and leaned in.

What she saw was a meteor shower. Hunks of rock and dust streaked diagonally across the sky, leaving behind brilliant white lines that criss-crossed the black background of deep space. She watched for about a minute, and in that time only one new meteor appeared, but the night sky remained littered with older lines as they made their way toward the horizon.

When Kara turned back to Lena, glasses in place again, she was met with another magnificent smile and concluded that yes, the meteor shower was beautiful, but it had nothing on Lena Luthor.

“Well?”

Oh, right, Kara should probably say something, instead of just staring at Lena like an awestruck puppy.

“I don’t even know what to say, Lena. It’s just spectacular! Thank you so much for showing me.”

Lena glowed, and Kara wasn’t sure if it was more from the moon or the praise at this point.

She did know, however, that she wanted to do anything in her power, both as a person and as a superhero, to keep that smile on Lena’s face. It was getting later and later, and Lena’s smiles were coming more and more easily, and Kara wasn’t sure how much longer she could hold out before deciding to throw caution to the wind. 

Instead, she asked, “do you want to lay down and stargaze? Your telescope is truly the coolest thing ever, but I find that it’s also fun to see what you can see with the naked eye.”

“Sure,” Lena all but whispered, and led them closer to the edge of the building. They laid down on the concrete, a bit chilly due to lack of sun, with no blanket or towel whatsoever. The lights from the city made it difficult to see many stars, and the lines of the meteors were only visible if you really squinted.

It should have felt ridiculous, staring into a hazy sky with her head resting on solid cement, but it didn’t, and Kara wasn’t sure why. Perhaps it was because thinking about outer space helped to ground her. Her true home was in space, and back on Krypton, Kara had loved astronomy. She could point out every constellation in her night sky, knew which planets orbited which nearby stars, and memorized Krypton’s annual comet/meteor shower calendar. She loved visiting other planets, and the desk drawers of her childhood bedroom were filled with sketches of solar systems and planets and aliens and all the rest.

Or, perhaps it was because Lena was the one by her side. Kara had been drawn to the brunette from the very beginning, and in more than just an aesthetic sense. In addition to being drop dead gorgeous, Lena was also someone Kara identified with. They were both thrust into totally new worlds without much of a say, they both had terrible bouts of loneliness, they both had the world on their shoulders. They both needed each other.

Of course, Lena didn’t know her life paralleled Kara’s, because all of those similarities relate to Kara being Supergirl. Lena has virtually nothing in common with junior reporter Kara Danvers. Lena is a kindred spirit to Kryptonian Kara Zor-El.

Kara found herself conflicted yet again. By not telling Lena that she was actually an alien immigrant, she was depriving her friend of a deeper emotional connection with a kindred soul. If she told Lena, she could jeopardize their friendship, as she has been keeping a huge secret, and worse yet, she could put Lena’s life in danger.

After twenty minutes of Kara silently spiralling, Lena’s voice drawled in the night and broke the blonde from her stupor. “This is the Eta Aquarids meteor shower, by the way. It peaks tonight, which is why I called this a time-sensitive issue.” Her voice was soft and slow, as if talking about the phenomena of outer space automatically turned her pensive. As if the weight of the secrets of the universe were pressing down on her and Kara, and every word hung heavy in the air. 

Kara could understand that. She felt the same way when she talked about Krypton.

Lena continued, "The meteors are made of dust particles left behind by the Halley comet. Most of them actually pass by in the Southern Hemisphere, and you can see up to 60 per hour. In the Northern Hemisphere, the rate is only about 30 meteors per hour.” She sighed.

Kara turned to look at her. Lena’s eyes were still trained on the sky, wistful. “Have you ever seen a meteor shower with a rate as fast as 60 per hour?”

“No,” Lena replied, “the fastest I’ve seen was 40. I used to time them.”

Kara smiled at that, and turned her gaze back upwards. She wasn’t surprised. Lena was more of a nerd at heart than a businesswoman, though she was an exceptional CEO.

Her smile quickly faded, though, when she realized that she had the capability to fly Lena straight down to South America and show her the Eta Aquarids shower as it was meant to be seen, but not without a risk.

The mood was mellow, Lena was relaxed and at peace under the stars, and Kara felt closer to her now than ever before.

It was now or never.

Kara cleared her throat, and tried to keep her heart from thumping out of her chest. “I actually used to be into astronomy as well,” she started.

“Oh really?”

“Yes. I, uh, my favorite constellation is Corvus.”

“Corvus.” Lena let the name roll off her tongue. “I don’t think I’m familiar with that one.”

“You wouldn’t be,” Kara said, voice barely a whisper.

“Hm? And why is that?”

A pause. “The closest star in Corvus is 32 light years away. And… mine is 42. That’s about 13 parsecs.”

Now it was Lena’s turn to look at Kara, and she wore a mask of disbelief. Deep underneath it, though, Kara thought she could make out the beginnings of realization. “What do you mean ‘yours’?”

Kara took a deep breath. She spoke slowly, as if that would lessen the blow. “You call it LHS 2520, but I call it Rao. It’s a red star, and Krypton orbits it.” She turned her head to meet Lena’s wide eyes, and reached up to slide her glasses off her face. She ignored the way her hands shook. “My name is Kara Zor-El, and I am the last daughter of Krypton.”

Lena stared for a little while, unblinking and owlish. Then she nodded. “Thank you for telling me.” Her voice was soft, and it sounded like acceptance, though Kara could tell she was a bit overwhelmed.

“Is… is that okay?”

Lena looked back up to the sky, now pitch black. “I think so, yes.”

Kara was relieved that the reveal seemed to go over well, but wasn’t sure what to do now. “I can, uh, answer any questions that you have.”

“I’m the bastard daughter of Lionel Luthor, and Lillian adopted me when my real mother died.”

The admission happened so fast it made Kara’s head spin. “What?”

Lena was stone still, keeping her gaze fixed on the moon above them. “You shared something with me that must have been very difficult for you to get off your chest. I thought it fair to do the same. And you wouldn’t ask personal follow-up questions about that confession, so it isn’t fair of me to do the same.”

Kara was shocked, and for the second time that evening, her jaw fell open. Everyone she’s ever told has had so many questions, and Kara always felt obligated to answer them. As if being an alien revoked her right to privacy, and Kara just went along with it. No one had ever exposed her internalized xenophobia before, or showed her her self worth without even trying to.

No one until Lena Luthor.

“Wow, I.. thank you, Lena, truly. I’ve never felt so respected after telling someone before.”

Lena just nodded. Kara hoped she wasn’t panicking after revealing her own secret.

“On second thought, I do have one, small question. It’s not bad, though.”

One of the corners of Kara’s mouth quirked up in a little side grin. “What is it?”

Making eye contact again, Lena asked, “why tell me now?” There was no accusation in her tone, only curiosity.

The other lip joined the first, and Kara fully smiled at the brunette. “Honestly, I was thinking about how I wanted to fly you to the Southern Hemisphere so you can see the meteors come down faster.”

Lena laughed then, and her eyes were sparkling, and Kara knew that they would be okay.

“Well then, what are you waiting for, Supergirl? Take me to Peru.”

When Lena blushed as Kara picked her up bridal style, and when Lena didn’t take her eyes off Kara’s face for the whole flight, Kara figured that maybe they’d be more than okay.

Maybe, on another night, after the meteor shower ends and they don’t feel the weight of the universe quite so firmly, and there’s no life-changing secrets between them, Kara will ask Lena out on a proper date.

And maybe Lena will say yes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun facts: Neil Degrasse Tyson worked with DC Comics to select a real-life star that would make sense as a parent star for Krypton, and he chose LHS 2520, which is truly in the constellation Corvus. The distances from Earth that I mentioned are legit as well. Also, the Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower is real, and actually is more active in the Southern Hemisphere. Can you tell that I love space?
> 
> About LHS 2520: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LHS_2520#cite_note-4  
> About Corvus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvus_(constellation)  
> About Eta Aquarids: http://www.seasky.org/astronomy/astronomy-calendar-current.html
> 
> (Yes, I used Wikipedia, sue me)
> 
> As always, please leave a comment and/or yell at me on Twitter, @katquarius! Feel free to prompt me as well. :)


	7. Bedside Discoveries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kara realizes early in their relationship that there are a lot of things she doesn’t know about Lena.

They were best friends before they ever started to date, so Kara thought it reasonable to say she knew Lena pretty well. She knew her better than anyone else in the brunette’s life, at least.

Kara obviously knew the basic things, like Lena’s middle name, her birthday, where she grew up, where she went to college.

She knew about the major, life-defining things, like her relationships with Lex and Lillian, what she remembered of her birth mother, L-Corp projects, near-death experiences.

She even knew some trivial things, like how she takes her coffee black, prefers scotch over tequila, and loves Big Belly Burgers. ( _Remember how Big Belly Burgers used to be the only junk food I ever ate?_ Lena would reminisce one day, as she surveys the pizza-and-potsticker laden dinner table. _You are a rotten influence on me, Kara Danvers._ )

When Kara and Lena decided to take their friendship to a romantic level, the blonde expected to learn plenty of new things about her new girlfriend. It was only logical, what with the increased amount of time they’d be spending together, and the increased level of trust between them.

Kara figured she’d learn about Lena’s more domestic quirks. Perhaps she’s a stress cleaner? Or she color-codes her closet? Maybe she always sleeps with socks on? That kind of thing, the things that only a partner would know.

What Kara didn’t expect to learn were stupidly obvious traits of her new girlfriend.

* * *

The first time Kara and Lena spent the night together was barely a week into their relationship. They had been watching a movie in Lena’s living room, and when it ended at midnight, and Kara chivalrously started to prepare to leave, as always, Lena spoke up.

“Actually, uh, you can stay, if you’d like.”

Kara hesitated for a moment, concern etched into her face. “Are you sure?” It was still new to her that she was allowed to be with Lena in this way; she had to keep reminding herself that the brunette wanted this closeness, too.

“Yes,” Lena nodded, “there’s no reason not to anymore. Plus, I want you to.”

That drew a smile from Kara, and it crept into her words. “Okay. Lead the way.”

Lena turned and made for her bedroom, flicking the light on when she reached the doorway. “I normally sleep on the right side, so you can dump your stuff by the left. Let me find you something to wear.”

The thought of wearing Lena’s clothes immediately brought a pink tint to Kara’s cheeks, and she fought her gay panic to mutter out a “you don’t have to, I can just wear this.”

Lena gave her a once over. “Nonsense. You’re not wearing jeans to bed on my account.” She opened the door to her walk-in closet, and Kara couldn’t help but take a peek over Lena’s shoulder as she composed herself. Between her careers of superhero and reporter, she was one investigative gal. ( _Nosy,_ Lena would call her in a couple years, with mock irritation in her voice and a twinkle in her eye. _You are nosy, and incorrigible, and I love you._ ) Her closet was not, in fact, color-coded.

Lena emerged a moment later with two sets of sleep clothes folded in her arms. She passed a large t-shirt and basketball shorts to Kara, and kept the smaller shirt and running shorts to herself. “Those are a bit big on me, so they should fit you.”

Kara wasn’t sure why, but that simple statement brought her blush back full force. “Thank you, I’ll, uh, go change in the powder room.”

“I’ll probably be in the bathroom when you get back,” Lena replied, thumb gesturing toward the door to the master bath.

Kara nodded and padded down the hall towards the powder room, where she quickly used the bathroom, changed, wiped off her makeup, and let down her hair.

When she returned to Lena’s room, the brunette was indeed still in the bathroom, so she set her glasses down on the nightstand and sat on the edge of the bed.

Lena emerged a few moments later, and Kara’s eyes bulged.

All she could think was _holy shit._

Lena wasn’t wearing a stitch of makeup, but was prettier than Kara had ever seen her. She looked soft in her plain white t-shirt, and her feet were bare, and her pin straight hair was cascading down and around her slender shoulders. Kara thought she looked like an angel.

“What?”

Lena must have caught her staring, which wasn’t surprising, since Kara had been doing it fairly overtly.

“Oh, nothing,” she breathed, “you’re just beautiful.”

Lena laughed lightly, brushing off the compliment as she turned the light out, and when she started walking to the bed, her hand slid up to press on the bridge of her glasses in a nervous gesture.

Wait, _glasses?!_

“Hold on, you wear glasses?!”

Lena fidgeted with the thick, black frames again, the city lights just bright enough to illuminate her motions. “Oh, yeah, I just wear contacts during the day.”

Kara spluttered. It wasn’t very becoming of National City’s finest hero. “Oh,” she managed to squeak.

“Is that, like, a problem?” Lena asked confusedly as she sat on her side of the bed. “‘Cause you wear-”

“No! No, definitely not a problem,” Kara interrupted. “They’re cute, is all. You’re cute.”

Lena faltered for a moment, clearly taken aback. “Oh.” She fiddled with her glasses again and Kara’s heart melted. “Thank you.”

Kara nodded as she scooted up toward her pillow. “You’re welcome.” She briefly wondered if Lena had ever experienced such casual displays of attraction and affection, and was prepared to curse the names of all Lena’s exes if the answer was no. She didn’t want to spoil the mood by asking such a question aloud, however, so Kara just slipped under the covers, ocean blue eyes trained on Lena following suit.

They laid facing one another, and Lena’s glasses sat skewed on her nose due to the mattress. Kara smiled as she reached up to gently slide them from Lena’s face. She rolled onto her back to place the frames on her own nightstand, beside her own glasses, and when she turned back over, a hand came to rest on her cheek, and she was nearly nose to nose with Lena.

Lena’s gaze flickered from Kara’s lips back up to her eyes, and Kara’s startled, but uncomplaining eyes met Lena’s own eager ones. The blonde could see the unspoken question in them. _Is this okay?_

Kara answered by snaking an arm around Lena’s waist, then closing the distance between them. She pressed her lips to Lena’s firmly, but the kiss still felt soft. ( _Firm and soft,_ Lena would muse, her hand pressing to the crest of Kara’s latest suit. _You’re a paradox, Kara; everything you do and everything you are is firm, yet soft._ )

Lena’s lips moved against hers, and Lena brushed a bit of honey hair behind Kara’s ear, before they broke apart and took a breath. It was a brief kiss, in the grand scheme of things, but it was deep and it tasted like toothpaste and Kara was happy. Rao help her, this woman--this beautiful, brilliant, glasses-wearing woman--made her so happy and she couldn’t manage to bite back her grin.

A more reserved smile graced Lena’s features as her thumb brushed Kara’s cheek once more, before she retracted her hand and curled it against her chest. “Goodnight, Kara,” she whispered.

Kara tugged Lena closer by her waist, so that her head was tucked safely underneath Kara’s chin. “Goodnight, Lena.”

She was met with a content sigh that she felt against her chest more so than heard, and the ghost of a smile didn’t leave her face for the rest of the night.

* * *

The second surprise came the next morning.

Kara woke at 10am, and, fortunately for her, it was Sunday: the one day of the week Lena took off. ( _I’m so glad you don’t work Saturdays anymore,_ Kara would note with a sweet smile as they watched the kids from the pool deck. _More room for family time._ )

She stretched a bit, yawned, then whispered, “are you awake?”

“Mhm. Good morning.”

“Good morning,” Kara replied softly. She hesitated for a moment, not wanting to offend Lena with her next words. “To be honest, I thought I’d wake up alone. I know you’re an early bird.”

Kara could just barely hear Lena’s lips curl into a smile. “I would have made us both coffee, but I actually can’t get up. Your legs are unnaturally heavy. I’m guessing that’s an alien thing?”

The blonde’s cheeks flushed in sheepishness. “Yeah, sorry. I’m a lot denser than humans, but I can levitate slightly to fight the force of gravity to make me seem normal when I’m like, walking around and stuff. Not when I’m asleep, though.”

Lena hummed thoughtfully. “No need to apologize. You’re warm.”

With a flurry in her stomach, Kara noticed that her and Lena had shifted very close during the night. Kara was on her back and Lena was on her left side, face pillowed high on Kara’s chest. The blonde could feel Lena breathing against her collarbone and Kara’s legs were resting on Lena’s beneath the sheets. Lena was clutching Kara by the waist, and Kara’s right arm was behind Lena, elbow bent up and hand wrapped in the brunette’s soft, curly hair.

Kara’s hand stilled and her breath caught in her throat.

Lena has _curly_ hair?!

A bewildered “your hair!” escaped Kara.

“Huh?”

Kara lifted her head off the pillow and gawked at what she found: an impressive mop of dark curls, slightly frizzy from sleep, fanned out on Kara’s chest and down Lena’s back. “You have curly hair?!”

“Ugh,” she groaned. “Yes, and it’s the bane of my existence. I have to straighten it every day.”

“Are you kidding?” At that, Lena lifted her head off Kara’s chest and leaned back to peer up at the blonde. “Your hair is literally beautiful. It’s a crime that you never show it off.”

Lena’s brow was crinkled in confusion, but beneath that, there was a glint in her eyes that showed that she appreciated the compliment, even if it didn’t totally compute. “Hm. If you say so.”

“I do say so.”

Lena squinted at the genuine look in Kara’s eyes for a moment, then seemed to relent. Her head found the spot beneath Kara’s collarbone again, made soft by her pectoral muscles. Kara’s hand resumed toying with Lena’s hair. Her nails scratched lightly at Lena’s scalp and her fingers became tangled in tight waves.

Kara thought back to last night’s similar situation and had to chuckle at herself. “I can’t believe I didn’t know you wore glasses or that you have curly hair. Do you have any other revelations you’d care to share?”

She was half joking, but when she felt a mischievous smile against her skin, she feared for her mental state. Kara wasn’t sure how much more of this she could take. Every new detail she learned about her girlfriend was as surprising as it was attractive.

“Only three more that I can think of.”

_Three?!_ “Three? Let’s hear it, then. You’re going to be the death of me sooner or later anyways.”

“Well, I was goth in college, so it should make sense that I have ten piercings and three tattoos.”

Kara gaped.

The CEO of L-Corp really had a goth phase; Kara wanted to learn about it so much it hurt. She needed to see photos, and she needed to see them now. Besides, tattoos and piercings were hot as hell, and Kara was slightly jealous that she couldn’t get any of her own on Earth. She got her ears pierced on Krypton, but due to her regenerative powers, body modifications were quite difficult now.

She was stunned, and awestruck, and honestly a bit turned on, but all Kara Danvers could say, with no help from her reporting skills, was-

“What the fuck?”

* * *

( _I only see nine, where is the tenth?_ Kara would ask months later, inspecting Lena’s ears and eyebrows and nose and lips and belly button, and even her nipples and between her legs. _Did it close up?_

_It’d be no fun if I just told you, would it?_ Lena countered, pulling Kara back up to her mouth with a cheeky grin.

Kara was determined. _I’ll find it be the end of the night,_ she vowed against Lena’s lips.

And she did.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! Maybe a future chapter will be Kara finding out about all those piercings and tattoos! ;) 
> 
> I hope you all liked that I formed some Lena headcanons around Katie McGrath's likeness, for example the glasses and numerous piercings and the few tattoos. My Lena's tats won't be exactly the same as Katie's, though.
> 
> I tried a thing this chapter with little sections in italics that gave glimpses into Kara and Lena's future. Let me know if that worked out okay and if you liked that narrative choice below, or let me know on Twitter (@katquarius)! And feel free to leave any other comments or prompt requests! :)


	8. Three Words

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first time Lena and Kara say “I love you.”

Lena opened the fridge in Kara’s apartment to see if she could scrape together lunch for the two of them. Ever since they started dating around four months ago, the blonde had been making an effort to stock up on ‘actual food, Kara,’ since it didn’t take long for Lena to get sick of pizza and potstickers whenever they hung out.

The key word being _making_ an effort.

Because currently, Kara’s fridge contained a bottle of ketchup, an empty gallon of milk (why that was still in there was beyond Lena, but she held her tongue and recycled it anyway), half of a chocolate pecan pie, 10 coffee creamer singles, and, of course, leftover pizza. The pantry wasn’t much better. There was a jar of peanut butter, five party-sized bags of different chip brands, and a ‘loaf’ of bread (it was really just two moldy heels, and she pitched those, too).

Lena closed the pantry door with a soft sigh. “Kara,” she called, raising her voice to reach the blonde in her bedroom. “When was the last time you went grocery shopping?”

The distant, rhythmic tapping of fingers on a laptop ceased. “Like, three weeks ago?”

Rather than carrying on a conversation from opposite ends of the apartment, Lena stood and made her way to the bedroom. She stopped in the doorway and leaned against the frame, hands tucked into the back pockets of her jeans. Her gaze settled on Kara, back propped up against the headboard and laptop resting on her thighs. “There’s nothing to eat, dear,” she said softly.

Kara peered up at Lena confusedly, the crinkle in her brow prominent and adorable. “Isn’t there some pizza? And some pie?”

“We had pizza yesterday, and pie isn’t lunch.”

“Oh.” Kara chewed her lip thoughtfully. “I bought some lettuce and kale for you last time, did you see that? I think I put in the fridge drawer.”

“I finished that up a week ago, but yes, I did appreciate that.” Lena couldn’t help the smile that snuck onto her face. Sometimes, she felt like she was dating a child, albeit a child with superpowers, but a child all the same. It was incredibly endearing.

“Oh. Uh, I can run to the supermarket real quick! If you give me a list I can leave and be back in like two minutes.” She was already closing her laptop and standing up.

Lena was touched by her girlfriend’s eagerness to help out, but she had other ideas. “Actually, I was thinking we could go together. I can help you learn what food to buy, and then we can come back here and cook something?”

The media had a field day when Kara and Lena were first seen walking through town hand-in-hand; titles like “Lena Luthor’s Lesbian Love Affair,” and “L-Corp CEO and... Junior Reporter?” circulated for a while. The stories were harmless, if a bit crass, so the pair just ignored the articles and tried not to catch the attention of paparazzi. The shock value wore off after a few weeks, so they were able to go about their coupley business as usual. Lena could tell that Kara loved to parade downtown with the brunette on her arm--Kara was just as proud of her CEO as Lena was of her superhero--so she knew that Kara wouldn’t be opposed to a grocery errand.

Lena was right; Kara’s ocean blue eyes lit up at the prospect of an impromptu outing, and she puffed out her chest a bit, almost imperceptibly.

“Okay! Let me just-” Kara pulled the collar of her shirt away from her body and peered beneath it. 

Lena assumed she was making sure that she was wearing her suit, just in case Supergirl was needed in the city. She had to guess, though, since that was just another quirky Kara-ism: sometimes, she trailed off mid-sentence and Lena was left to fill in the blanks herself.

Releasing the collar, seemingly pleased with whatever she had found, Kara looked back up at Lena and grinned. “Ready!”

Lena returned the smile and held her left hand out for Kara. The blonde took it gladly, interlocking their fingers together and giving Lena’s hand a squeeze. They made their way to the front door, Lena grabbing her purse on the way, despite Kara’s insistence that ‘I can pay, Lena, they’re my groceries after all!’

* * *

A ten minute walk later found them in the grocery section of Target, Kara pushing a big cart and Lena walking beside her.

“Alright, so usually you want to start with the non-perishables, so that the refrigerated food doesn’t get warm by the time you get home,” Lena explained as they walked.

Kara nodded thoughtfully. “Makes sense.” 

When they reached the aisle labelled “Candy,” “Cookies,” “Chips,” and “Popcorn,” Kara’s eyes lit up like a kid at Disney World and she started to turn into it.

“Now, wait a second, Ms. Danvers,” Lena chided, grabbing onto the cart to halt Kara’s progress. “You have five bags of chips and a chocolate pie at home. Don’t you think we can skip this row?”

“First of all, _Ms. Luthor_ ,” Kara retorted playfully, “that was a chocolate _pecan_ pie, and pecans are healthy. Second, I need a lot of calories.” She flexed her bicep, as if that helped to prove her point. Lena raised an eyebrow and fought to keep a smile off her face. “And third of all,” all semblance of Supergirl’s bravado left Kara’s voice. “Please?”

She put on her puppy dog eyes, damn her. Lena hadn’t yet figured out a defense against the legendary Danvers puppy eyes, and Kara knew it.

Lena sighed amicably, resigned. “You can pick out ONE treat.”

“Yay! Thank you!” Kara stooped slightly to give Lena a quick peck on her cheekbone, before taking off toward the cookies, cart in tow.

A pink tint graced the brunette’s cheeks in response to the kiss, and Lena ducked her head somewhat shyly as she trailed after Kara.

Lena had a moment to think to herself while her girlfriend was silently mulling over her wide array of dessert choices. As of late, her thoughts had been wandering to love: what it entails, how it feels, what it looks like.

Lena has never been in love. Not with her college flings, unsurprisingly enough. Not with Jack Spheer, who she believed truly loved her. Her parents rarely even smiled at one another around Lena, let alone hugged or kissed or exhibited any displays of affection whatsoever. Lena never considered love to be an option for her. It didn’t seem to be the Luthor way. Quite frankly, she didn’t even know how to love. Perhaps she wouldn’t literally be alone for the rest of her life, but emotionally? Lena was closed off. Walls up, doors locked. Feelings shoved into little boxes so that she could ignore them, and didn’t miss them anymore. It was an easier way to live, she could get things done and preserve her heart.

But things change. Lena still had her walls and her doors, but now, Kara Danvers seemed to have a key.

It was both comforting and terrifying. 

As time went on, Lena grew closer and closer to Kara, but the fear was building up too. It seemed that there was more at stake with each passing day: the longer this relationship continued, the more it would hurt if it ended. Lena desperately didn’t want it to end--she enjoyed every single second spent with Kara--but she wasn’t sure if she could handle the pressure, and she was worried she’d mess things up. In the end, perhaps she was only ever going to be just another Luthor. Not in the supervillain kind of way, but in the doomed, broken, lonely kind of way. It was a sad thought, and its inevitability weighed down on Lena’s shoulders like a ton of bricks.

Fortunately, Lena’s girlfriend can literally lift a ton of bricks.

If anyone could help Lena realize that she deserves love, and that she can learn how to be in love, and that she is not destined to turn into her mother or brother, it’d be Kara. Sweet, thoughtful, strong, brave Kara.

And anyone who could get to know Lena inside and out--her secrets, her fears, her feelings, her trauma, her demons--and still want to stick around? And still believe in her? And still be on her side? They’d be a special person. 

Kara was a special person, and she meant more to Lena than the brunette could ever hope to articulate. But was it love? Lena wasn’t sure--didn’t know how to evaluate her own feelings.

“Do you like Oreos?”

Kara’s voice broke Lena out of her reverie. A bit disoriented, her eyes snapped up and met an inquisitive blue gaze. “Pardon?”

“I’m trying to choose a treat, but I didn’t want to get something that you don’t like. So how do you feel about Oreos?”

Considerate, so considerate and thoughtful. God, could this woman get any more perfect?

“Oh, yeah, Oreos are fine. Really, you can get whatever you want.”

Kara hummed in deliberation as she took one last glance at the wall of sweets, a package of Double Stuf Oreos clutched in her right hand. “I’m good with the Oreos.” She tossed them into the cart.

* * *

They spent the next half hour ambling through each grocery aisle so that Lena could show Kara where everything was and advise her on what to buy. It would have taken half the time, but Kara’s relentless, horrible puns (‘I would never Cheeto on you, Lena!’) and general goofing off (‘Kara, I take my eyes off you for two seconds and you’re what, inside a paper towel fort?’) slowed their pace, but both girls were having too much fun to care.

Eventually, they had dilly-dallied so much that they started to worry for their perishables.

“I think I should use my freeze breath,” Kara whispered conspiratorially.

Lena’s eyes widened. “Are you sure? What if someone sees you?”

“We can go into a corner so no one can sneak up on us, and you can use your body to shield me from the cameras and other shoppers. It’ll be alright.”

Concerned for Kara’s secret identity, Lena hesitated. “I don’t know-”

“Trust me,” Kara offered, and Lena had no response to that. She trusted Kara implicitly.

“Okay.”

The operation was successful: the groceries were saved. In total, they ended up with Oreos (the most important purchase, according to the blonde), Eggo waffles, whole wheat bread (‘It’s healthier than white bread, Kara’), noodles, Honey Nut Cheerios, various fruits and vegetables (including kale for Lena), various toppings/spices, milk, yogurt, cheese, eggs (4 dozen of them, Lena was horrified), chicken, and ground beef. When they made it to the freezer section at the very end, Kara was able to sweet talk Lena into letting her get rainbow popsicles, too.

Despite finishing their major task of the day, Lena and Kara were enjoying the domesticity of shopping together and were reluctant to head home. Thus, they found themselves meandering the entirety of Target.

Both the stupid puns (‘No one can hold a candle to you, Lena,’ Kara said, holding up a Yankee Candle and winking) and the tomfoolery (‘Not so fast, Kara!’ Lena cried from her place on the edge of the cart as Kara pushed her down a deserted aisle) continued relentlessly.

When they got to the clothes section, a light bulb went off above Kara’s head.

“What if we split up, gather an outfit, and then try it on for one another?”

“Done.” Lena’s answer was immediate, and her eagerness shocked her. The giddiness in her chest was unfamiliar; she felt like a child, like all of Target was her playground, professionalism and expectations be damned.

Was this another facet of the Kara Danvers experience? On top of believing in Lena and supporting Lena, Kara made Lena feel like a kid again. Although, Lena never really had a chance to be a kid. From the age of four on, the only game she remembered playing was chess, and that was more of a logic test than a true game. So really, it was like Kara was giving Lena the gift of youth, one that was stolen from her so long ago.

Something special, that girl.

Lena decided to go for a wow factor with her outfit and selected a three piece suit. Her women’s cut suit jacket and slacks were a royal blue that brought out her light eyes, and they fit fairly well for being untailored. Underneath, she donned a crisp, white dress shirt, buttoned all the way to the top. She found gray heels and a thin, gray belt to complete the look. Lena left her hair down in the way she knew Kara liked.

Lena elected to model first. When Kara saw her, her jaw dropped nearly to the floor, and the brunette was tempted to pick it back up for her.

“Oh, Rao,” Kara breathed, eyes raking Lena from head to toe. “You’re... perfect.”

Lena blushed at the praise and at the blonde’s wandering eyes. Were it anyone else, Lena would have felt uncomfortable, but in front of Kara, she felt confident and lovely.

“Can we buy all of this? We have to buy this,” Kara continued, looking up to meet Lena’s eyes, as Lena stood taller in her heels.

“Babe, I can probably find this same outfit at an actual suit shop and get it tailored correctly, plus it’ll be higher quality. The shoes won’t hurt as bad,” she kicked them off her feet, dropping a couple inches beneath Kara’s eye level.

“Alright, but if we can’t find everything, we’re coming back here.”

Lena smiled at Kara’s dedication to the cause. “Deal.”

“Man, I need to think of a nice restaurant or something to take you to, I need an excuse to get you in a suit again,” Kara mused as she turned around and started walking toward her dressing room. Just before she closed the door behind her, she gave Lena one last once-over and wolf whistled.

Lena snorted as she returned to her own dressing room, then changed back into her original clothes while Kara prepared for her grand entrance.

After Lena’s own dignified outfit, it was only logical for her to assume that Kara would model something similar. Perhaps a suit of her own, or a cocktail dress, or even a summer skirt and cute blouse.

You’d think Lena had never met her own girlfriend, by how far off she was.

Kara emerged from the dressing room looking nothing short of a catastrophe. On her head was an army camouflage bucket hat, and she had American flag sunglasses pulled down over her eyes. She wore a tight-fitting soccer jersey, navy with lime green accents, and little pink booty shorts. Around her waist was the most hideous rainbow sparkly fanny pack imaginable, and she was wearing orange Halloween crew socks patterned with little ghosts saying ‘Boo!’ (In June, mind you.) Finally, and this was truly the straw that broke the camel’s back, were Kara’s shoes. Oh God, the shoes. Kara had chosen yellow and blue _Minion Crocs._ How she had found Minion Crocs in her size Lena couldn’t say.

And on top of it all, Kara wore a smile, brighter than the sun itself. Lena wished that she could see the way her eyes sparkled when she was really happy, but the sunglasses barred her view.

Despite herself, Lena had to laugh. While doing so, she thought about everything Kara. About how wonderful their day together had been, about how many laughs they shared and secret glances they stole, about how their date wasn’t even over yet because Lena promised a home cooked meal when they finished shopping. She thought about how beautiful Kara looks when her grin threatens to split her face, about the splatter of freckles on her cheeks and the bridge of her nose, and the crinkle in her brow when she’s confused, about her soft, golden hair that smells like home. She thought about her strength and valor as Supergirl, and her kindness and compassion as Kara Danvers. About how excellent of a listener she is. About how she only has eyes for Lena. About her traumatic past, and how she had the guts to rise up, to keep fighting, to form a new family and find her way to Lena.

Lena always thought she had never been in love. It wasn’t until now that she realized that she has been, and still is. She started to fall in love the moment a charming blonde reporter walked into her life, offered up her radiant smile, and flipped Lena’s world upside down. It started with a look, turned into friendship, and grew into promises of ‘always’ that left Lena breathless. And now, it seemed as if they had reached the precipice: Lena finally able to label it ‘love.’

Apparently, all it took was a trip to Target and a pair of Minion Crocs.

“So? How do I look?”

Lena reached up to gently remove Kara’s sunglasses and set them upon the brim of the bucket hat. She wanted to be looking into Kara’s eyes when she said what she was about to say. She was sure her heartbeat was picking up, but mercifully, Kara didn’t comment on it.

Lena felt the world slow to a stop around her. She took a deep breath.

“You look like a dork. And I love you.”

“I love you, too! Oh! I forgot to show you.” Kara hopped 180 degrees, now facing away from Lena, oblivious to the brunette’s emotional turmoil.

_She loves me too?_

“Look at my butt!” Kara pointed to her ass with the index fingers of both hands, as if Lena wouldn’t have been able to find it otherwise. ‘Dork’ didn’t even begin to cover it.

Across the backside of the pink booty shorts, ‘Juicy’ was written in a white, looping font. 

Head spinning in the aftermath of both her and Kara’s declarations, and her chest filled with more affection than she could ever remember feeling, Lena could barely manage a response.

“Well, that’s… certainly accurate.”

Come to think of it, Kara looked remarkably attractive even though Target basically threw up on her. The jersey was tight around her abs and shoulders, and her bottoms showed off her ass and were short enough to reveal a large expanse of long, tan, muscular legs.

Lena was _this_ close to jumping Kara right there in the dressing room, but she had something more important at the forefront of her mind.

Kara loved her? And she confessed it that quickly, that nonchalantly? As if it wasn’t something huge, as if it didn’t require a moment’s hesitation?

In all honesty, it shouldn’t have surprised her. Kara wore her heart on her sleeve, and the superfriends were always telling Lena about how Kara looks at her like she hung the stars in the sky herself. Alex would make a jab about how gross they are, ‘all in love and shit, it’s disgusting,’ and Lena would try to brush it off with an awkward laugh. Kara would just pull Lena closer, smiling her million dollar, sparkly eyed grin.

Yeah, Lena should have known. Time and time again, Kara proved that she trusts Lena, that she’ll always stand up for Lena, that she’ll always be by Lena’s side. She had praised Lena for her intelligence, good heart, beauty, and more. Even before they were dating, they seemed to share this strong bond, some type of emotional connection, that only strengthened as they got closer.

Lena was never much of a romantic, but she was a scientist. This whole thing with Kara, this love, felt like quantum entanglement, truly. Two quantum particles, their fates fundamentally entwined such that the state of one particle cannot be described independently of the other, no matter the distance. Scientific soulmates.

That was why Lena felt an undeniable pull to fashion trainwreck of a superhero in front of her. She was sure of it now. They belonged together. A Super and a Luthor--it doesn’t get much more charming than that.

“Do you think I should keep any of this?” Kara had a wry smirk plastered on her face, as if she was sure that Lena hated every last article of clothing on her body, and was looking forward to Lena telling her exactly that.

On principle, Lena refused to be predictable. It was part of being a successful business woman. “Keep the fanny pack. It’s perfect for Pride.”

Kara’s eyes widened in surprise, about buying the fanny pack, no doubt; and excitement, about the prospect of a pride parade in their future.

Lena wasn’t finished yet, though. “And keep the shorts. They suit you.”

“For Pride?”

“No.” Lena was suddenly possessed by a newfound confidence as she rode on the coattails of a confirmation of requited love. She laid her palms on Kara’s shoulders and rocked up onto her toes, leaning in close to her ear. Then she teased, in a low voice, “those are just for us.”

* * *

That evening, Lena was back at Kara’s apartment, her head leaning on Kara’s shoulder as movie credits rolled down the living room TV screen. It was nearly midnight, and she was dreading heading back to her own place.

Kara’s voice was barely above a whisper when she broke the silence. “So, you said the three words today,” she started, an unspoken invitation for Lena to continue.

Lena closed her eyes and hummed. “I did.” She had been thinking these past few hours, and the notion didn’t scare her anymore. “And you said it back.”

“I did.” Lena could hear the smile in Kara’s voice. “I’m glad you said it first, though.”

Lena lifted her head from Kara’s shoulder to look her in the eyes, head cocked sideways. “What do you mean?”

Kara inhaled deeply and raised her eyebrows a bit, bracing herself to confess… something. “Well, I’ve been prepared to say it for a long time, Lena. But I- I wasn’t sure how you would react. I wanted to wait until you were ready, you know?”

Lena did know, and she appreciated it. She had half an emotional breakdown in Target upon hearing Kara echo her own words back to her, how would she have reacted to Kara saying it out of the blue weeks--maybe even months--ago?

“Thank you, Kara, that’s,” she sighed, content. “That’s exactly what I needed.”

Kara smiled, her lips together but her eyes alight with pride. Her hand found Lena’s under the blanket, and then she leaned in for a kiss. It tasted like a promise, a silent reassurance that Kara would be patient, and let Lena take the lead as they explored the uncharted territory of their blossoming relationship together. When Kara broke away, a vow of “anytime” escaped her lips, and Lena mourned the loss of warmth.

Kara’s sapphire eyes were flooded with affection when Lena peered up at them, her own emeralds swimming with admiration. “You’re really good at this girlfriend thing, aren’t you, Kara Danvers?”

Kara shrugged and smiled, but didn’t take her gaze off Lena. “You make it pretty easy. And you’re not so bad yourself.” She knocked their knees together, and Lena giggled.

“You’re a clown. I can’t believe I’ve fallen for a clown.”

“I think I might have a red foam nose around here somewhere…” Kara pretended to look side to side and underneath the blanket.

“Oh my God, shut up and kiss me again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo, longest chapter yet! Feel free to comment below, yell at me on Twitter (@katquarius), and/or leave a prompt!


	9. Figuring it Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from St on AO3: “For your next prompt, can we have their first big fight? A really bad one, with Kara losing her temper and Lena mentioning some pretty nasty things.”
> 
> Thank you St for the first reader submitted prompt of this fic! I hope you enjoy it!

Kara heard Lena open, close, and lock the front door from her spot in the bedroom. It was 11pm. She had finished getting ready for bed some time ago and was lying flat on her back, staring up at the ceiling and idly petting Morgana the cat while she waited for Lena to get home from L-Corp.

Lena had told Kara that she’d be working late again that night, but Kara assumed ‘late’ meant seven or eight, like it had been for the past week--at least early enough to catch dinner together. Kara spent the evening cooking spaghetti for two. When 8pm came and went, she ended up eating her share alone, and started to check her phone for an update text from Lena every few minutes. If Kara didn’t have the ability to zone in on Lena’s heartbeat from across the city, she’d be worried that something had happened to her.

Since there was no reason to worry for Lena’s safety, Kara found herself starting to get annoyed. Was Lena really too busy to shoot her a quick text? To let her know that she was okay, and when she’d be home? Surely no one would complain if the CEO was on her phone for all of ten seconds, when most of the lesser employees probably snuck text messages and inconspicuously scrolled through Twitter all the time. Even though she knew better, Kara couldn’t help but feel like she wasn’t much of a priority.

Despite not having to worry about Lena being in danger, Kara was still concerned about her. She knew her girlfriend had a tendency to work herself into the ground. She gets headaches all the time, skips her lunch break when she’s particularly busy, and loses so much sleep over stressful projects and upcoming meetings. The past couple weeks had been especially hard on her. L-Corp was preparing for the launch of a new product, and Lena had taken to participating in every step of the process, from the design work and prototyping to the management and scheduling.

The dichotomy of being both pissed off at Lena and worried about her was frustrating. It would be easier if she could just choose one and act accordingly. Unfortunately, relationships aren’t black and white like that, especially when you truly love the other person.

And Kara does love Lena. She loves her more than anything, which is why hardly seeing her hurt so much. She just missed her girlfriend. It had been two weeks by then, two weeks of late nights and working weekends and this latest 11pm ordeal was dangerously close to putting Kara over the edge.

Kara heard Lena kick her heels off and toe them into the cubby by the door. “I’m home, babe,” she called out from the foyer.

“In the bedroom,” Kara answered.

Lena walked in and made for the closet to grab pajamas. “I’m sorry I’m home late. Awfully busy day.”

Kara nodded in acknowledgement. “Did you eat?” 

“Yes. One of the scientists bought subs for everyone working in the lab. I considered promoting him on the spot.”

Normally, Kara would have at least snorted at that. She wasn’t in the mood for levity tonight, though, so she stayed quiet while Lena took off her makeup and brushed her teeth. When Lena re-entered the bedroom, Kara hadn’t moved a muscle. She was still looking up at the ceiling, eyes distant and unfocused.

“Kara?” Lena sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at her. “Is something wrong?”

Kara took a breath and tried not to let it waver. “Everything is fine, Lena.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Kara noticed Lena frown. “Kara, we don’t lie to each other. That isn’t us. Please tell me what’s going on?”

“Alright.” Kara sat up, and met Lena’s gaze for the first time since that morning. “For the record, I didn’t start this conversation.”

Lena’s eyes widened. She wasn’t used to that kind of bitterness in Kara’s voice.

“You’re never home anymore. You keep working weekends, and you stay late every night, and you don’t tell me when you’re coming home. I’m worried about you, and I miss you, but whenever you _are_ home, I’m too mad at you to even want to spend time together.”

Lena scoffed. “Oh, that’s rich.”

Kara practically snarled back at her. “What do you mean that’s _rich?_ ” Her voice dripped with venom, and it was a sour taste on her normally sweet tongue. In the back of her mind, she knew that she should take it down a notch, but she had been bottling this up for too long. Her emotions were starting to get the better of her, and she wasn’t sure if she was able to reign them in. Did she even want to?

Suddenly, Lena got off the bed and backed up a step, a flash of fear in her light green eyes, and Kara wasn’t sure why. When she realized, though, she felt guilt stab into her gut and twist. In her anger, Kara’s eyes had begun to glow. No wonder Lena had recoiled so forcefully. Kara felt nauseous. She should know better than to threaten humans like that, even by accident, when it was rarely a fair fight. And worse, she had to lose control like that in front of her girlfriend, of all people? 

“Did… did you touch Red Kryptonite? You’re not acting like yourself.”

The unspoken accusation felt like a punch to the stomach, but Kara knew she deserved it. “No!” She took a moment to collect herself. She couldn’t slip up like that again. “I didn’t touch Red Kryptonite, Lena. Am I not allowed to be frustrated?”

Lena frowned again at that, clearly not appreciating the snark, but at least she wasn’t scared anymore. She knew that a sober, for lack of a better term, Kara would never actually hurt her, no matter how furious she was. “Of course you’re allowed to be frustrated.” Lena sat back down on the bed, looking down at her hands in her lap.

“What’s rich, then?”

“What’s rich is that you’re accusing me of the same thing that you do every day! I’ll admit that I’m fairly unavailable whenever I have a big project going on, but otherwise?” Her eyes snapped up to meet Kara’s, and they burned with a strange combination of anger and heartache. “You’re Supergirl, for God’s sake! How do you think I feel when you take off at all hours of the day? In the middle of the night, when you should be next to me, or during date night, or even while we’re-” Lena cut off abruptly and lowered her voice. “Even while we’re having sex? And then I worry. That’s the worst part.” She sniffled, her eyes welling up with tears of exhaustion and sad resignation. “I worry the whole time you’re gone. I wonder if tonight will be the night you die, and I won’t even be by your side to say goodbye.” 

Kara faltered, and all the anger seeped out of her as if someone were wringing out a sponge. Logically, she knew that dating a superhero should be difficult, but Lena had never expressed as much, so Kara figured it didn’t bother her. It seems they’d both been bottling things up lately.

Kara adjusted so that she was sitting cross-legged in front of Lena. Hesitantly, as she wasn’t sure if Lena would accept her touch at this point, she reached out to wipe away a couple stray tears rolling down the brunette’s face. 

Lena let her, and pressed her cheek into Kara’s palm as she squeezed her eyes shut.

“I’m so sorry that’s hard for you, Lena. I never wanted to hurt you like that.” Kara sounded like herself again. Her voice was soft, and tears pricked at the back of her own eyes. “But it’s my job. I hate when I have to leave as much as you do, but the city needs me. It sounds… arrogant, but… I save people.”

“Don’t you see, Kara?” Lena lifted her head from Kara’s hand and caught her gaze, her eyes almost pleading for the other woman to understand. “My technology will save people, too. The nanobots my lab is working on… they’ll be able to kill cancer cells, treat other diseases, improve vaccines... I don’t mean to sound arrogant, either, but my job is just as important as yours. My team could _cure cancer._ ”

Kara broke eye contact and looked down at the mattress, suddenly ashamed. “I didn’t think of it that way. I’m sorry.”

Lena nodded, accepting the apology. “I’m sorry, too. For not being around. I could have at least communicated better with you.”

“It’s okay. I just--” Kara raised her eyes again, drowning in pits of sage green. “I don’t want us to drift apart. I mean, I have literal superpowers and you’re _Lena Luthor,_ CEO of a Fortune 500 Company when you were 24, don’t you think we should be able to figure something out?”

Kara’s flattery and light tone brought the ghost of a smile to the corner of Lena’s lips, and Kara considered that a victory. “I still have to put in a ton of hours at the lab until L-Corp launches the project, but I can try to save my office work for home? That way I’ll be around, even if I’ll still be working.”

Kara smiled then--the first genuine one of the day. It felt freeing. “I like the sound of that. And I can see if J’onn will be willing to set up a system where I’m only called in when I’m truly needed. Like, only for the extranormal operations.” 

Lena returned the smile. “I like the sound of that, too.”

They sat on the bed for a couple more seconds, just looking at one another, dried tear tracks glistening where the overhead light caught them. 

Kara was overcome with gratitude that they were able to see eye to eye, when the whole situation had felt so helpless just hours before. She held her arms open for her girlfriend. “Come here?”

Lena crawled over and settled on Kara’s crossed legs. They settled into a warm embrace, with Lena’s ankles crossed behind Kara’s waist, and their faces buried in the other girl’s hair.

To Kara, it felt like home, and even though she was happy, she couldn’t help but tear up again. It was an emotional confrontation, and Kara knew she would continue to beat herself up for the glowing eye slip.

If the wetness in the crook of Kara’s neck was any indication, Lena was similarly affected by the entire evening. Kara squeezed her a little tighter. 

“I love you,” Lena whispered.

“I love you, too.” Kara’s hand tangled comfortingly in Lena’s hair. “And I missed you.”

“I missed you, too,” Lena answered, and it got caught in her throat. Kara understood. There was just something so desperate about yearning for something that should be right in front of you, that should be within your grasp, but was hovering just out of reach.

That night, they fell asleep fully entwined for the first time in two weeks.

The fight felt like a new milestone, a learning experience that brought them closer together, and Kara felt whole again with her girl in her arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really puzzled over how to write a believable Supercorp fight for quite some time, especially since Lena is loaded so they wouldn't fight about money, neither of them would ever cheat on the other, and I already wrote a reveal chapter (in which Lena was cool with everything). So, I hope the "you don't make enough time for me" route did them justice! Let me know what you think below, or on Twitter (@katquarius). And as always, feel free to leave a prompt. :)


	10. Jewelry and Surnames

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lena and Kara make a couple decisions about the upcoming biggest day of their lives.

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon, so Kara and Lena were taking full advantage of their lack of responsibilities for the day. Kara was sitting on the couch with her ankles crossed on the ottoman, and Lena was reclined against the arm of the couch with her feet in Kara’s lap. Both were still clad in pajamas, Kara free of her glasses and Lena’s perched on her nose. They were both reading; Kara, the novel “The Great Gatsby” (she had a list of classics she was determined to get through), and Lena, an article about the most recent breakthrough in water collection methods for people living in dry, third world countries (she insisted that it wasn’t work and was actually entertaining).

When Lena finished, she reached over to set the packet on the coffee table. The light caught the diamond ring on her left hand and reflected a brilliant bright white, which was mirrored in Lena’s smile as soon as she noticed.

Kara had proposed a few days before and Lena was still on cloud nine.

She brought her hand up in front of her face to gaze at her new accessory, which had quickly become one of her favorite pastimes. It was a princess cut on a silver band, and it was slightly larger than a reporter’s salary had any right to justify, but not obnoxiously so. Lena had a sneaking suspicion that Kara had called in a favor to the DEO, but she wasn’t about to call her out.

Lena absolutely loved the ring Kara chose, and she wasn’t sure if she could be happier if she tried.

She glanced up and grinned broadly at Kara’s profile—even if Kara didn’t notice, too enthralled in her book. When Lena’s gaze dropped to Kara’s unadorned left hand, her smile faded and she furrowed her brow. They hadn’t talked about what type of ring, or rings, Kara would wear, and Lena wasn’t sure what the standard was for two women, if there even was one. Should she buy an engagement ring for Kara, too? If so, should she propose to Kara? Or just give the ring to her as a gift? Would Kara just want to wear a wedding band, like men normally do, and Lena would wear the engagement ring and wedding band, like women normally do?

There were too many choices for Lena to make on her own, about something that Kara would wear for the rest of her life. Communication is key in marriages, anyway.

“Babe?”

“Hm?” Kara looked up from her book immediately. That was one thing Lena loved about her. Her exes would give a short ‘one sec’ and finish the sentence, or paragraph, that they were on, but Kara always gave her full attention to every word that came from Lena’s mouth, and never left her hanging.

“I wanted to ask you something.”

Kara caught the note of seriousness in Lena’s tone and slid a bookmark into her novel, then set it down on her end of the coffee table. Her left hand settled on Lena’s bare legs, just above her ankles. “What’s up?”

Lena thought it better to just get to the punch. She was long past her days of nervously dancing around topics like this with Kara, back when she was paradoxically scared of both long term relationships and of losing Kara. “Do you want an engagement ring too? Or just a wedding band?”

A little side smile snuck its way onto Kara’s face. Whether it was at the mention of weddings or at Lena’s abrupt question, the brunette wasn’t sure.

“I was thinking a wedding band, but I had something extra in mind, too.”

Lena cocked her head. She hadn’t considered a third option.

“At weddings on Krypton, couples exchanged bracelets of a color combination specific to them, instead of rings.” She tried to push glasses up that weren’t there. 

Lena’s expression softened. Over the years of their relationship, it had become far easier for Kara to tell her about Krypton, but Lena knew that the pain of losing a planet can never completely go away.

Kara continued. “I was thinking we could pay some sort of homage to that. I’d be able to wear the bracelet all the time, since I can pull the sleeves of my super suit over it so that the press doesn’t catch wind of it, and then I’d only wear the band as Kara Danvers.”

Lena found it incredibly endearing that Kara had already put so much thought into this. “I think that sounds like a great idea.” She couldn’t keep the smile out of her voice. “And I’d love to wear a bracelet too, as long as it’s allowed since I’m not a Kryptonian.”

Kara furrowed her brow in thought for a moment. “Honestly, I’m not sure if Kryptonians married aliens. My parents never mentioned anything about it.” 

Lena frowned at that, but only for a second, because Kara started smiling cheekily at her and squeezed her shin.

“It doesn’t matter though. I’m a Kryptonian and I say it’s allowed.” She punctuated her affirmation with a sure nod of her head.

Smiling, Lena toyed with her engagement ring, not totally used to the weight and the tightness of it yet. “So, bracelets then.”

“Bracelets,” Kara agreed, “plus the rings.”

“And you’re sure you don’t want any diamonds?” Lena had no want for money and was more than willing to indulge her girlfr- no, her fiancée!

Kara chuckled in that charming way of hers. “No, no, I don’t need diamonds. I don’t even need the bracelet, even though I am really excited about it. All I need is you.”

Kara’s delivery was nonchalant, not meant to be some huge declaration, but Lena’s heart still swelled. “You’re sweet.” She slid her legs off Kara’s lap so she could scoot over on the couch to sit beside her, and Kara absentmindedly laid her hand on Lena’s thigh. Lena leaned in to steal a kiss that the blonde was more than willing to give up.

When she withdrew, she fell straight into Kara’s blue eyes, the striking color reminding her of something Kara said earlier.

“Have you thought about what color you want to make the bracelets?”

“Well,” Kara swallowed. “I don’t think we need to worry about making a totally unique color combination, so we really have our pick of the litter.”

Lena moved her hand to rest on Kara’s, where it was still on her thigh. “Alright, what did you have in mind?”

“Silver band, to match our rings, and then I was thinking gold and green accents.”

“That sounds beautiful. Why those accent colors?”

“Gold for the crest of the House of El. And, honestly? Green, because the color green makes me think of you. I think it’s your eyes, mostly. And like, the bit of a Slytherin vibe. So I think it’d be cool to have bracelets that are half me and half you.”

Lena couldn’t help but kiss Kara again, using her actions instead of her words to show her appreciation for Kara’s color choices. 

As she broke away, an idea took shape in her mind. “Can I make the bracelets?”

“What?”

“Would you mind if I make them? I know some basic metalworking, and since you don’t want any gemstones, we don’t need a jeweler. I can cut and bend and color the metal and everything. I’m not a professional, so they won’t be perfect, but I would love to try.”

“Are you kidding?!”

Lena shook her head.

“I had no idea you could do that, Lena, that’s amazing! Of course you can make our wedding bracelets, as if I’d ever tell you no.”

“Perfect,” Lena smiled, already thinking of ways to customize the bracelets even further. What word or phrase could she engrave in the metal? Did she want to get really fancy with it and install a walkie talkie type system in the bracelets, too? Or a distress signal emitter? How could she make it as comfortable as possible to wear beneath the tight elastic of Kara’s suit?

Lena couldn’t wait to get tinkering in her workshop, but for now she was content to remain on the couch during her day off, snuggled up with her girl. The girl she was going to marry in the not too distant future. Holy shit, they had a whole wedding to plan! Where would they have it? Big wedding or small wedding? Her and Kara kind of ran in the same friend group, who would be on whose side of the altar?

All of those were very common wedding decisions to consider, but the next thing that ran through Lena’s head was a bit less standard, much like the ring situation. Would either of them change their names upon getting married? If so, which one? Would they hyphenate?

“Kara?”

“Hm?”

“What are we going to do about our last names?”

Kara’s forehead crinkle made an appearance. “I hadn’t thought about that. What do you want to do?”

Lena hadn’t really thought about it either. She mirrored Kara’s frown of thought. “Well, I’m willing to give up ‘Luthor.’ It hasn’t served me very well in the past.” She let out a mirthless laugh, which she knew wouldn’t sit well with Kara.

“Are you sure? I know you have a lot of bad memories from the Luthors-”

That was understating it. “Kara, the ‘Luthor legacy’ has been a dark, ominous, mocking cloud over my head for as long as I can remember. I know I’m already bringing a lot of baggage into our marriage already; I don’t want to exacerbate it by bringing in _that name_ as well.”

Kara made a point to make direct eye contact. “First of all, you’re bringing no more baggage than me, the last daughter of a dead planet.”

The beginnings of a pitying expression took shape on Lena’s face, but Kara shook her head, dismissing it immediately.

“And second, you didn’t let me finish. You’ve made amazing strides in changing people’s perception of the Luthor name. In a generation, the only thing everyone will think about when they hear ‘Luthor’ is all the good you’ve done through L-Corp, not the atrocities of your mother and brother.”

Lena wasn’t totally convinced, but Kara made a good point that she couldn’t overlook. And even though she knew it never worked on Kara, she couldn’t help but try to use humor to mask her turmoil.

She snorted. “I guess the ‘L’ is the only part that’s not cursed, if what you say about L-Corp is true.”

If they were living in a cartoon world, a lightbulb would have appeared over Kara’s head.

“That’s it!”

“Huh?”

“I read a little while ago that more people are combining their last names when they get married. Some straight couples do it because it’s a more feminist stance than taking the man’s last name, and a lot of same sex couples do it because they don’t have a traditional system to fall back on.”

“That’s so interesting!” Lena sat up a little taller, the way she always does when she’s excited about a new idea. “And I can definitely see why that’s more ideal than hyphenating, since it’s simpler for your kids.”

Kara grinned, undoubtedly at Lena’s casual implication of having kids in the future. That was an important conversation they’d had before Kara proposed, and both girls were delighted to know that they had the same desire to start a family. Especially since Kara understandably wasn’t sure what insecurities Lena would have about being a mother, when Lillian was such a poor role model for her. “Exactly. So, I was just thinking that if you only like the ‘L’ in your name, why don’t we combine and make it-”

“Lanvers,” Lena finished for her, an excited smile creeping onto her face.

Kara had a twin smile of her own. “Lanvers,” she repeated.

“Lena Lanvers. Kara Lanvers. Lena and Kara Lanvers.” Lena let the names roll off her tongue.

Kara assumed a mock haughty expression, chin lifted and everything. “It has a nice ring to it, if I do say so myself,” she teased.

Lena knocked into Kara’s shoulder with her own, effectively breaking Kara’s guise and making her giggle. “It does, you goof.”

“Are we doing it, then?”

Lena was hit with a wave of nostalgia for something that hadn’t even happened yet, if that makes any sense. All of this still didn’t seem real—the proposal, the rings and bracelets, the new surname—to the point where Lena wasn’t sure if she’d ever stop feeling so giddy about marrying Kara. She couldn’t wait until she finished their bracelets, until they officially sign the marriage papers, until they legally change their names. For the first time, it struck Lena that she couldn’t wait to live the rest of her life.

She brought one hand up to cup Kara’s cheek, and guided her fiancée into a sweet kiss. “We’re doing it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Kryptonian wedding bracelet tradition is legit, feel free to look it up for more info! And the combining last names thing is legit too, I first learned about it in a Rose and Rosie video and then researched it on my own, so feel free to look into that if you’re interested!
> 
> I will of course write a chapter at some point telling the story of their proposal, but I just really like jumping around in the timeline. :) Perhaps I’ll write a chapter on that conversation about having kids as well, we’ll see!
> 
> Please yell at me below or on Twitter (@katquarius), and as always, feel free to suggest a prompt.
> 
> P.S. I realized after I wrote this that “Lanvers” could be seen as dumb bc it’s like turning a ship name into their surname, like if Alex and Maggie got married and changed their last names to Sanvers, but please don’t make fun of me at least I didn’t make their last name Supercorp lmao


	11. Game Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first game night where Lena and Kara are dating.

Lena opted to walk to Kara’s apartment instead of calling her driver, hoping the extra time would help calm her nerves. Tonight would mark the first game night since Kara and Lena started seeing each other, the first game night where Lena wouldn’t be attending as ‘just a friend.’

She knew Kara hadn’t yet told most of their friends that her and Lena were kind of a thing now, or even that Lena knew the million dollar identity secret. (They had been skirting the whole non-disclosure agreement thing since neither of them were excited for that conversation, and anyway, Kara trusted Lena not to tell anyone that she was Supergirl.) 

Only Alex knew about the couple.

Kara had elected to tell Alex without Lena there, since there was also the whole ‘I’m not actually straight’ bit they’d have to go over. Later on, she recounted the story to Lena.

* * *

Kara invited Alex over for pizza and a movie one night. Alex didn’t suspect anything until they were both settled on the couch, pizza and popcorn on the coffee table, ready to watch the movie, and Kara didn’t turn on the TV.

“Kara?”

Kara adjusted her glasses and continued to stare down at her lap. “Uhh…”

Sensing a shift in the mood, Alex furrowed her brow, unsure of where the conversation was headed. “Is something wrong?”

“Um, no? I wanted to tell you something, though.”

“Oh.” Alex’s expression smoothed out. “Well, you know you can tell me anything, right?”

“Yeah. Mhm.” Kara nodded, as if trying to convince herself.

Alex waited patiently.

Kara was silent for a second, and then she smiled. “It’s actually,” she laughed softly, “it’s actually kind of funny.”

Now Alex was thoroughly confused. “Uh, what’s funny?”

“It’s just, we were in this same situation, but reversed, not so long ago. It’s kind of silly, like, what are the odds?”

“What are the odds of what?” Alex felt like there was some joke she wasn’t getting.

“Oh, right. I’m- I like girls too. I think I’m bi, or maybe pan. I don’t know. I haven’t figured the specifics out yet.”

Alex had no problem with that, of course, but she was surprised. When she came out to Kara, Kara had made no indication whatsoever that she had wondered about her sexuality, too.

Kara, a bit put-off by Alex’s silence, raised her hands in a facetious display of jazz hands. “Surprise?”

“Oh! Oh my God, Kara, that’s- that’s great! I’m so glad you’re discovering more about yourself, and thank you for telling me.” She pulled the blonde into a tight hug, and Kara visibly relaxed into it.

“Thank you for reacting so well.” Kara pulled out of Alex’s arms and sat facing her. “I mean, of course I knew you wouldn’t hate me or anything, but- I didn’t want you to feel like I was, I don’t know, stealing your thunder or something. Like, trying to be special when I’m not, at least not in that way. You know?”

“Oh, Kara. I know what you mean, but I would never think that about you.”

“Yeah, I know.”

They sat smiling at each other, and Alex felt even closer to her sister than before, but something was still nagging at the back of her mind.

“So, if you don’t mind me asking-”

“Not at all!”

“Why now? Was there something in particular that made you realize?”

“Oh! Uh, yeah- that’s actually the other thing I wanted to talk to you about.” 

Kara tensed up, even more so than before, and Alex wondered what could be more nerve wracking than coming out. (Granted, Kara was coming out to an out lesbian, but still.) 

“Um, I realized when I,” Kara cleared her throat. “When I started spending more time with Lena.”

Alex felt her eyebrows shoot up. She opened her mouth to reply, but Kara wasn’t finished yet.

“That’s not all of it, though.”

Alex’s jaw clamped shut, her eyes still wide.

“The other main thing I wanted to tell you is that we started seeing each other, Lena and I. A few weeks ago.”

Oh. It made sense why Kara was so nervous, she knew that Alex was a bit wary when it came to the youngest Luthor. It’s not that Lena had ever done something dangerous on purpose, Alex was just a realist, and knew that Lena had the resources and the intellect to be a threat if she wanted to. 

Kara was a decent judge of character, though, so if Lena was someone she truly cared about, and someone who was going to be around more, perhaps Alex should try to warm up to her.

And, honestly, once Alex really started thinking about it, she wasn’t surprised about this whole turn of events. Kara had always talked about Lena with such reverence, such fondness, that Alex should have known it wasn’t mere admiration of a powerful woman. No, Kara had been smitten from the beginning, even if she herself hadn’t realized it.

“I see.” Alex nodded. “Well, Kara, I’m sorry that I haven’t been the most… welcoming of Lena, but I promise I’ll try harder now.” She offered a smile. 

Kara returned it ten fold. “Thank you, that would really mean a lot to me.”

Alex figured she should try to lighten the mood. “So, what’s the situation here?” She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial, teasing tone, and leaned toward Kara. “Are you guys girlfriends?”

Kara laughed and shoved playfully at Alex’s shoulder, and Alex smiled in response. Kara seemed happy, and that’s as much as an older sister can ask for.

“Well, we haven’t actually had the ‘girlfriend’ conversation yet, but I kind of think of her in my head as my girlfriend. We’re just like, dating, and stuff.”

“You don’t need to tell me about the _stuff,_ Kara.”

“Alex!” Kara shrieked, face rapidly reddening. “Not _that_ kind of stuff!”

Alex cackled, and when her laughter died down, Kara removed her face from her hands.

“You really like her, huh?”

Kara looked down and grinned at her lap. “I really do, Alex,” she borderline whispered.

Alex smiled at her sister’s bashful confession. “Then I’m happy for you.”

“Thank you. There’s just one more little thing, though.”

“Hm?”

“She knows I’m Supergirl.”

Alex sighed heavily, that revelation wasn’t particularly shocking, either. “For how long?”

Kara peeked up at Alex, looking guilty in a way that had Alex frowning instinctively. “Three weeks? Maybe four.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake--”

* * *

Overall, the conversation went well, and Lena was relieved to hear that Alex would give her a chance, but hearing about it secondhand was already awkward enough. She wasn’t looking forward to reliving it right in front of all Kara’s friends, even though they were her friends now, too.

So, she walked slowly and steadily down the streets of National City to Kara’s apartment, and waited for at least two entire minutes at the entrance before she hit the buzzer, and another minute before knocking on Kara’s door. She was almost positive that Kara’s super hearing would pick up on her heartbeat as she stood there delaying the inevitable, and was grateful when Kara didn’t mention it upon letting Lena in.

“Hey!” Kara greeted, followed by a chorus of “Hey, Lena!” from the other occupants, which Lena addressed with a general wave.

Even though they’d normally greet with a kiss, Kara pulled Lena in for a one-armed hug, her free arm wrapping around Lena’s shoulders, her other hand still clutching the open door. Lena was gripping a bottle of wine in one arm, so she snaked the other around Kara’s waist and clung to the back of her sweater.

Lena didn’t mind the lack of kissing, figuring Kara preferred to tell her friends about their relationship with her words, instead of showing them with her actions.

“Hey,” Lena replied as they broke their embrace. “I brought wine.” 

“Shocker,” Alex teased from across the room, head craning over the back of the sofa and shit-eating grin in place on her lips.

Lena normally would have taken that as a blow, a way to ostracize her for having money, but this time she recognized it as good-natured banter between friends, and assumed a mock haughty tone as she shot back, “I suppose you prefer your _Bud Light,_ then?”

“Oh, snap,” Nia muttered from another chair, her eyes glued to the scene unfolding in front of her.

Alex feigned offense and scoffed. “This is Sam Adams, thank you very much. Far more classy.”

Lena shook her head, a genuine smile replacing her smirk, then held out the bottle of wine to Kara, who had closed the door and was now standing beside her.

Instead of taking it, Kara shook her head and gestured for Lena to follow her. She led her into the kitchen, away from any lingering eyes of their friends.

“Hey again. I wanted to make sure that you’re still okay with telling everyone?”

Lena couldn’t help but smile at Kara’s thoughtfulness, at the look of concern on her face. “Yes, I’m good.”

Kara’s eyebrow crinkle appeared. “You’re nervous though, aren’t you?”

“Well, yes.” It must have been her heartbeat. “But I’m still sure about this. You can tell them whichever way you like, since I’m going to be nervous no matter what.” 

A conference meeting in which she was the only woman in a room of misogynistic, condescending men? No sweat. A speech in front of a crowd of a thousand people, and millions more watching from their TVs? A walk in the park. But anything that had to do with relationships, or feelings, or vulnerability? Lena still had a lot to learn, and a lot of baggage. Once she starts getting scared, or nervous, or overwhelmed, she begins to shut down: hardens her walls and keeps people out. She knew she must be frustrating for the people in her life to deal with, but she never thought so about Kara.

Kara was wonderful. Kara knew when to prod, and when to give Lena space. She knew when Lena needed to talk something out, and when she just needed to be held close. Even before they were dating, Kara was a phenomenal best friend, and coached Lena through many moments of vulnerability, though with admittedly less cuddling. But now, Kara was able to teach Lena how to have a proper relationship, too, and Lena was incredibly happy to have the blonde weave her way into yet another facet of Lena’s life.

“Okay,” Kara breathed. She peeked into the living room, presumably checking to make sure everyone was occupied by one conversation or another. Evidently satisfied, she raised a hand to settle on Lena’s cheek, and started to lean in, slow enough that Lena could pull away if she was worried about prying eyes.

With Kara right there, though, and her hand warm and soft on Lena’s cheek, Lena wouldn’t dream of pulling away, and if someone saw, then someone saw. Damn the consequences. She tilted her head up to meet Kara halfway in a quiet, chaste kiss, lasting no more than a second, but enough to satisfy them both for the time being.

Only then did Kara take the bottle off Lena. “Do you want any?”

“Please.” Lena figured a glass of red would help take the edge off.

Kara poured some for them both, then set the bottle beside the rest of the alcohol gathered at the center of the island. She gestured for Lena to lead the way into the living room to join the rest of their friends.

Alex was on the main couch, Kelly beside her, and James beside Kelly. Nia was perched on the arm of the loveseat, and J’onn was sitting in an armchair. Brainy was on the floor by the coffee table. Kara joined Nia on the other side of the loveseat, and Lena opted to sit on the floor in front of it.

“So, Lena, did you run into a problem at L-Corp or something?” J’onn spoke loud enough to break up all the mini discussions, effectively bringing everyone into one conversation.

“Uh, no? Why?”

“Well, you’re half an hour late-”

Oof. Had it really been that long?

“-which is no problem, I just assumed you got held up.”

All eyes turned curiously to Lena in order to hear her explanation. It was like they were inviting her or Kara to divulge the secret, this was really the perfect opportunity, but Lena wasn’t ready yet. It was too early in the night; she was still jittery from kissing Kara in the kitchen and, frankly, she hadn’t consumed enough alcohol.

She decided to continue to prolong the inevitable.

“Oh, I just forgot that I needed to pick up some wine until the last minute.” She waved her hand dismissively for emphasis. Bless her Luthor cunning.

“Ah.” J’onn seemed placated, but luck didn’t seem to be on Lena’s side tonight.

She had only just dodged the first bullet when James had to go and say, “On another note, how are the lovebirds doing?”

Lena choked out a “pardon?” as her heart rate spiked through the roof, and she heard Kara choke on her drink from behind her.

James shot the pair of them a strange glance, and said, as if it were obvious, which perhaps it was to everyone else, “I was talking about my sister and Alex.”

Kelly played it cool, but a tint rose to Alex’s cheeks. Nia, ever the comedian, exclaimed an elementary schooler-esque “ooooooooh!”

Alex finally ceded. “Yes, yes, we’re dating, as a lot of you already knew or suspected.” She took Kelly’s hand to punctuate her words, and Nia “awwwww”ed.

Nia, Brainy, and J’onn all engaged in some form of excited “congratulations” or “I’m happy for you,” but Kara and Lena were uncharacteristically quiet.

Of course, they were happy for the two women, but they were still recovering from almost being called out. And yes, it was comforting to know that their whole friend group was clearly cool with ladies dating one another, but still, both Alex and Kelly were already out of the closet, so it wasn’t much different than any two friends deciding to start dating. 

Kara and Lena weren’t out, so it would have to be a double reveal, just like when Kara told Alex. They’d have to reveal their sexualities and that they’re dating and that Lena knows the Supergirl secret and they’d have to reveal all that to literally like 5 people at once, and as Lena sat on the floor considering all this, she realized that she was somehow even more nervous than she was twenty minutes ago. She took a big gulp of her wine.

Ever perceptive, Kara nudged Lena’s thigh with her toe, and Lena craned her neck back to look up at her.

“ _Still good?_ ” she mouthed, eyebrows raised.

Lena took a deep breath and realized that she’d have to calm down or Kara would never follow through for fear of making Lena uncomfortable. So she nodded and squeezed Kara’s foot where it was still pressed against her leg.

Kara smiled at her and winked reassuringly.

Lena had only just turned back toward the center of the living room when she heard Kara clear her throat.

“I’m so happy for you guys,” she gestured to Alex and Kelly genuinely. “While we’re on the subject, though, I have something I wanted to share with you all as well.” 

All eyes turned to her, except Lena’s, who could already feel her cheeks heating up and was desperately trying to avoid drawing any extra attention to herself.

“Apparently my game nights are basically Tinder because Lena and I are also actually dating.”

Of course she’d make it some sort of joke, and let everyone laugh at her to take some of the attention off Lena. Make it seem silly, to counteract how serious Lena’s feelings were for Kara, and how seriously nervous she was. She couldn’t have been more grateful for the other woman than she was right then.

“It’s about time,” Nia teased with a smile. J’onn nodded in agreement.

“Uh, what?” Lena squeaked.

“Exactly what it sounded like. Y’all have clearly been not _just friends_ for literally as long as I’ve known the both of you.”

Well that was something. Because Lena and Kara _had_ been just friends up until a few weeks ago. Lena didn’t have enough time to overthink exactly what the fuck _that_ meant before Brainy continued Nia’s sentiment.

“Indeed. I ran the calculations and it was statistically improbable that you two would remain only friends for longer than approximately three and a half years after meeting. I was correct.”

“Damn, ahead of schedule! Look at us, Lena!”

Lena, bewildered, finally turned to look at Kara and was met with knuckles extended in a fist bump offering. On autopilot, she returned the gesture, her mind still reeling and unsure why Kara found all this unsurprising.

She turned back to the group. “So, you all basically already knew this?”

“I actually didn’t have a clue until Kara told me privately,” Alex confessed. “I generally prefer to remain oblivious to my little sister’s love life unless absolutely necessary.” She shuddered, and Kara reddened, and Lena vowed to get to the bottom of _that_ story sometime soon.

“I suspected,” Kelly put in, grinning in genuine happiness for Kara and Lena. 

Alex turned to her in wordless shock. 

“What?! I’m a therapist, it’s my job to read people. And you guys were easier to read than a book.”

Great, so they were utterly obvious to Nia, and Kelly, and even Brainy, who was a little lacking in the social skills department. J’onn’s sage nod from before indicated he knew something he wasn’t mentioning, too. That was another thing Lena wanted to investigate.

The only unaccounted for reaction was from James, but Lena didn’t expect one. That would have been awkward for several reasons. He did offer a ‘congratulations,’ though, and while he wasn’t grinning ear to ear like Nia or Kelly, it did seem like he was genuinely happy for his two friends.

Not that it would have truly mattered anyway if he reacted differently. Lena was always yearning for approval and acceptance from her friends to quite frankly make up for the number her childhood did on her, and she was more frightened of rejection than she was willing to admit. But when she looked behind her to find Kara already staring adoringly down at her, she realized that no one else’s opinion of their relationship mattered. She was grateful for their approval, and it definitely didn’t hurt her self esteem, but she could have lived without it. All she really needed was Kara. Whether it be as a girlfriend, or as somebody she’s dating, or even just as a friend. As long as Kara was in her life in some capacity, Lena felt like she could handle any and all adversity.

Maybe just a few weeks in was a little early to be so all about Kara, but when she thought about it, Brainy was right. This had all been a long time coming. When Kara first walked into her office that day years ago Lena knew that she was going to be important. She felt the gravity that seemed to bind them together from the start. The moment the idea of a romance snuck into her brain, though, she shoved it deep into one of her boxes. She was stubbornly unwilling to risk losing a friend by being selfish enough to want to turn their amazing friendship into something more.

She never thought about the fact that no else knew how determined Lena was to keep it platonic. Lena had convinced herself so completely that her and Kara would never be something more that she never really monitored her actions around the blonde. Lena didn’t think they’d never date, therefore filling Kara’s office with flowers wasn’t flirty. They’d never date, therefore bringing Kara as her plus one to galas wasn’t romantic. Same thing with saying that Kara is her favorite person, and calling Kara Danvers her hero, and texting her the red heart emoji and oh fuck Lena had been flirting for years and didn’t even know it. 

It finally made sense why it was obvious to (mostly) everyone else. Lena had literally been treating Kara like her rom-com love interest for actual years. (She hoped Kara hadn’t felt like she was being led on for so long, Lena would have to ask her and apologize profusely if the answer was yes.) So, all anyone ever saw was Lena seemingly flirting with Kara, and Kara returning full swing. To their friends, it was literally statistically probable that they’d end up together, and it was just a matter of one of them working up the nerve to ask the other out.

Lena felt a bit silly and embarrassed at how plainly she apparently wore her heart on her sleeve, but it definitely could’ve been worse, and at least everyone was happy for her and Kara. She knew that this would just be another thing to laugh about fondly down the road, so she finally let herself exhale the breath of anticipation she’d been holding in for too long.

The attention was finally taken off her and Kara when, out of nowhere, Nia said “also you guys gave me the perfect segue to say that Brainy and I are also dating. So there’s that.” 

“Indeed,” was Brainy’s contribution.

Nia went to wrap an arm around Brainy’s waist while he went for a high five. It was wonderfully awkward and so very them that everyone struggled to hold back their laughter, not wanting to offend the pair.

Kara lifted her wine in front of her. “Cheers to the happy couple! I told you it’s like Tinder around here!”

* * *

As soon as everyone else had left Kara’s apartment, Lena promptly pulled her into a red wine flavored kiss, hands cupping Kara’s cheeks and Kara’s settling on Lena’s hips.

“Thank you for tonight,” Lena breathed.

“Nothing to thank me for! I’m glad you’re happy with the way it all panned out.”

“No, I mean I really appreciate the way you handled it. You checked to see if I was alright, and you made it funny so that everyone laughed at your joke instead of it being awkward.”

“Oh, well that’s just ‘cause I’m hilarious,” Kara teased.

Lena rolled her eyes good naturedly, smile tugging at her lips. “Shut up, I’m trying to compliment you.”

“I know, thank you. You don’t have to worry about anything though, I’ve got your back.”

Lena felt like she could cry at just that simple statement, but settled for a quick peck at Kara’s lips instead. “I have a couple questions for you if that’s okay?”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

Lena led Kara over to the island so they could sit on the stools. “I was thinking about how everyone else apparently knew I had a crush on you before I did, and looking back, I did a lot of incredibly flirty things. Did you ever feel like I was leading you on?”

Kara thought for a moment. “Uh, no, I don’t think so. Because I’ve since been told that some things I did weren’t particularly platonic, either. Like, you know, the flying to different countries to get your favorite foods, the carrying you bridal style, that kind of thing.” She pushed her glasses up on her nose in a nervous gesture.

Lena smiled. “It seems we were both clueless, then.”

“Oh yes,” Kara laughed, threading her fingers with Lena’s where they rested on the counter. “But we figured it out and that’s what matters.”

Lena squeezed Kara’s hand. “Agreed.”

“Was there anything else?”

“Yes, Alex said something weird about not wanting to know about your love life? Which I guess isn’t weird in itself but then she seemed… disturbed. What was that about?”

“Oh, gosh,” Kara cringed. “She was talking about the time she walked in on an ex and I. It wasn’t fun for any parties involved so she kind of tries to avoid the details and I don’t blame her.”

“Yikes.”

“Yeah.”

Lena cocked her head. “You told her about us though?”

“I did. It was important to me that she knew about us because A, I thought it was time to come out to her. I didn’t want to bottle it up anymore, you know, and she trusted me with that information about her so I didn’t feel weird doing the same. And B, well, I don’t really have any way to put it other than I just wanted her to know. You’re really important to me and so is Alex so I wanted her to be on the same page. I wanted her to know how much I like you.”

Kara said it simply, like it was something mundane, like it didn’t turn Lena’s world sideways. All her overwhelmed brain could manage to get out was an “I like you a lot too,” accompanied by tinted cheeks.

Kara smiled that radiant grin of hers and Lena still couldn’t form words.

Kara helped her out, though. “Any last questions?”

“One more. When Nia said that it was ‘about time’ we got together, J’onn nodded, but didn’t elaborate. I feel like I don’t know him incredibly well, and I don’t imagine that you two talk about your love life much. How could he possibly think it was so obvious?”

It was Kara’s turn to blush, but she was also fighting back a grin. “You know how I told you that he’s an alien?”

Lena nods.

“To put it blatantly, he can read minds. He generally doesn’t try to directly invade people’s thoughts unless necessary, but, like, he’s very powerful so he can almost always pick up on people’s emotions without trying to, especially when they’re nearby.”

“Oh shit--”

“And you’ve worked at the DEO by his side quite a few times.”

“Fuck me.” Lena hid her face in her hands.

“Yeah, that’s probably what he was hearing from your mind when you and I were working together.”

“Kara!”

“What?! It’s not my fault you like my Kryptonian muscles.”

The grin on Kara’s face was far too shit-eating. And it _was_ totally her fault. Lena was not taking the blame for that one. No person in their right mind would _dis_ like Kara’s muscles.

Kara continued to tease. “The only person to blame is you and your fixation.” Then she flexed her bicep. Lena was at her wit’s end with this woman.

“Wouldn’t he have overheard something from your mind too?” Lena had looked in a mirror. She knew she was pretty, and Kara herself had told her similarly, and then some. Surely she wasn’t the only one thirsting in the privacy of her own mind.

“Nope. He can’t read Kryptonian minds.” Kara had the audacity to actually stick her tongue out.

Lena groaned and buried her face in her hands once again. “Fuck you.”

A pause, as if Kara wasn't sure she should say what she was about to say.

“Maybe sometime when we haven’t had so much wine...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo! Sorry for like, the five month hiatus but a bitch had her first semester of college and was busy as all hell.
> 
> I hope y'all enjoyed this! I compulsively decided to give Kara some mad game at the end there, it just felt Right.
> 
> As always, feel free to leave comments or prompts below or on Twitter (@katquarius)! Hopefully I'll find some more time to write during winter break...


	12. Gray Hair

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kara finds out that Clark is starting to get gray hairs, and is excited because that means she will get to grow old with Lena.

Kara and Lena had been dating for three years, but Kara knew she’d been in love with Lena for longer. She’s not sure when she put two and two together-- she couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment when she realized she wanted to be more than friends.

It was probably more of a gradual thing. Kara gradually came to terms with the fact that she’d put Lena’s safety over her own without hesitation. She had already borderline put her love for Lena over the safety of the world, which was dangerous and a bit worrisome, but Kara couldn’t bring herself to regret it. Slowly, even before they were dating, her and Lena’s lives became so intertwined that Kara could no longer imagine her life without the other woman. She didn’t want to. She accepted that she would do anything to keep Lena by her side, even if it was just as friends for the rest of their days. It was kind of a soulmate thing. Kara wholeheartedly believed that she and Lena were meant to be in each other’s orbits.

Kara was ecstatic to discover that Lena reciprocated her feelings all those years ago, and over time found herself falling even more in love with Lena as their relationship blossomed. She didn’t think that was possible, but there she was, more head over heels than ever and cherishing every moment she got to spend with Lena.

Kara wanted to marry her. She’d known that for a while, too. She was fairly certain even early on in the relationship that this was it for both of them.

There was one problem, though.

Kara wasn’t sure if Kryptonians aged the same way on Earth as on Krypton. She was terrified that she’d age slowly, the light of the yellow sun keeping her youthful, dooming her to watch everyone she loves grow old and die and leave her behind.

Of course, she seemed to grow relatively normally as a teenager, and it seemed like she still looked about Alex’s age, but she wasn’t totally convinced. Maybe that had something to do with puberty, Kara wasn’t a doctor. Furthermore, Clark was in his late thirties and could still pass for his early twenties, which was an unfortunate bullet point in the ‘abnormal aging’ column.

With all these unknowns, Kara struggled to think about committing to a marriage. She didn’t want to marry Lena and find out that she’d live for 200 years, when she knew the average human life expectancy was around 80. Maybe it was selfish, but she knew it would destroy her to say goodbye to an old lady Lena, frail and even paler than usual with paper-thin skin and sullen eyes.

Kara knew in her bones that she’d never love someone else the way she loves Lena. She knew she wouldn’t be able to ‘find love again’ or whatever bullshit people would tell her in a feeble attempt at consolation. If Kara was already going to lose her sister to old age, and all her friends, she couldn’t bear to lose her _wife_ as well.

Unfortunately, that left her in an impossible limbo. If she refused to marry Lena, what were the other options? Be girlfriends indefinitely? That’d cause the same heartache. Marrying Lena wouldn’t magically make them more in love, so not marrying her wouldn’t make them any less.

The other option was to break up with her. Maybe she should end it between them, it’d be more painless for both of them to break it off now, before Lena grows old and it all gets incredibly depressing--but about two seconds into that train of thought she realized that wouldn’t work for her, either. She knew just how painful it’d be to try and break up with Lena now, and she honestly wasn’t sure if they’d be literally able to stay away from each other. It was cheesy, but Kara fancied them a couple of heavy duty magnets.

Perhaps it was better to cherish the time they did have together, and face their unknown futures together.

Or maybe Kara could just push her fears to the back of her mind and keep up the status quo, and cross her fingers that Lena doesn’t propose first.

She decided on the latter.

* * *

Supergirl was losing.

Her already formidable opponent had Kryptonite guns and lasers, and Kara couldn’t get close enough to use her fists--she kept being put on the defensive. She tried her heat vision, but the enemy had some sort of contraption to harness its power and funnel it into their weapons.

She already had a bright green bullet lodged in her right shoulder, so she wasn’t sure if her arm would be all that useful even if she could get close enough to use it.

“This isn’t working, Alex!”

“Okay, keep holding on, Supergirl, we’re gonna get you backup. The Kryptonite surprised us, too.”

Kara nodded, even though Alex couldn’t see her. She kept flying in the airspace above the enemy erratically, making sure they couldn’t flee but also trying desperately to not get hit again.

They’d been at it for a while, and Kara’s shoulder screamed, so she was trying not to show either her fatigue or her pain.

“Alex?!”

Kara’s vision blurred momentarily from the pain, and the opponent took advantage and zapped her. Immediately she felt as though she’d been struck by lightning, and fell to the ground with an asphalt-rupturing crack.

She struggled to her feet, the Kryptonite causing the fall to hurt way worse than a normal fall, and raised her fists futilely. It was as if she was just waiting for her opponent to finish her off, it wasn’t like Kara could see or think straight enough to fight back. She just wanted to buy time for the backup to arrive.

The next blast never came, though, and Kara just stood there wavering on her feet for longer than she expected to.

A couple minutes later, she felt strong hands on her upper arms, stabilizing her.

“Supergirl? Kara? Are you okay?”

It was a man’s voice, and he was shaking her with each word, as if to jolt her from her stupor. Suddenly, and with a quick shot of pain, the bullet was yanked from her skin and her head immediately began to clear up.

“Clark?” She blinked a couple times. “What are you doing here?”

Superman exhaled in relief at Kara’s reply and softened his grip on her arms. “I’m the backup.”

“Oh. Thank you.”

“It was no problem. I was already nearby National City.”

That made sense. Kara liked to think that Alex would have had the foresight to bring backup that _wasn’t_ vulnerable to Kryptonite when the opponent had so many Kryptonite weapons. It was reasonable if Clark was the nearest hero available, though.

“How about we get you back to the DEO? You could probably use a check-up,” he teased lightly.

Kara snorted. “Yeah, okay.”

She blinked the last of the Kryptonite haze out of her eyes and looked at Clark’s face, and noticed something that she could have sworn wasn’t there before.

“Hold on a second, do you have _gray hair?_ ”

“Oh, jeez. Not you giving me flak, too. Lois pointed it out the other day.” Clark’s hand lifted to brush against his temple, where a bit of white was starting to join the black. He chuckled good naturedly, but Kara’s jaw was hanging open.

“So you’ve been aging normally, then, right? You’re in your late thirties and getting gray hairs because that also happens to most human men in their late thirties, right?”

“Um, I’d imagine so? Is there something wrong?”

Kara felt like she could fly. Well, like, she could, but she felt like she was moments away from unintentionally floating away. “No. Nothing wrong at all. I think I’m good enough to go home. Can I go home?”

“Uh,” Clark looked confused, it’s not like he was Kara’s boss. “I feel like you should still get back to DEO, get that shoulder checked out and start getting debriefed-”

“Okay thanks bye!” Kara knew a more proper thank you to Clark was in order, and she shouldn’t have left him to clean up the mess she made with her own enemy, especially since he didn’t love working with the DEO, but she really couldn’t have cared less at that particular moment. She immediately took off and beelined for her and Lena’s apartment.

* * *

Kara gracelessly thunked onto their balcony and was about to rush in and tell Lena the good news (“Clark has gray hairs which means I’m also gonna get gray hairs which means we can get married and grow old together yay!”) when she realized that it would sound dangerously like a proposal if she wasn’t careful, and she didn’t have a ring yet. Also, she hadn’t told Lena about any of her internal age struggles, so Lena would be confused by Kara’s word vomit. Thirdly, it was generally a good idea to discuss marriage before popping the question out of nowhere.

Kara decided to take a few minutes to pace along the balcony and calm down and think of something a little more suave to say.

She was almost finished rehearsing when Lena opened the sliding glass door and slipped out onto the balcony, facing Kara’s back.

“Kara? Are you okay?”

Kara turned and swiftly strode toward her girlfriend, took her face into her hands, and slotted their lips together. Lena leaned into it, arms slipping around Kara’s waist beneath her cape.

When Kara pulled away, she was all sunny smiles, despite her post-battle appearance. “I have something to tell you.”

Lena was more concerned with the welfare of Kara’s body. “What happened to your shoulder? Why is your suit all ripped up?”

“Oh, bit of a bad fight. They had Kryptonite bullets. I’m fine, though.”

“Baby, your shoulder is a little green.”

“Oh.” Kara turned to look at her own arm, and, sure enough, it was still glowing even though Clark had removed the majority of the bullet. She truly hadn’t noticed. It was like she was high on the discovery she had made, high on her love for Lena and on her excitement for her future. _Their_ future. Well, possible future. Lena still had to say yes and all. But Kara was optimistic.

“Shouldn’t you have gone to the DEO to get that cleaned up?”

“I told you, I had something to tell you.”

Lena smiled and rolled her eyes at her clown of a girlfriend. She took Kara’s hand and started leading her inside. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with you.” (Lena knew exactly what she was gonna do with Kara, which was not reprimand her because quite frankly she didn’t have the heart to.)

Lena deposited Kara on the couch with a “be right back” and went to presumably grab her fancy, joint Kryptonian and human physiology First Aid kit.

So far, Kara’s declaration hadn’t gone according to the plan, but she could roll with it.

Lena returned and set the kit down on the coffee table. “Could you take your cape off, please?”

Kara unhooked the clasps and shrugged the cape off her shoulders.

“I’m going to use tweezers to get the last bits of bullet out, if that’s okay.”

“Okay. Don’t worry, I don’t think I’ll be able to feel it. My shoulder is kinda numb.”

Lena nodded. “Normally that in itself would worry me but at least we’ve got some built-in painkiller, huh?”

Kara grinned. “I planned it that way.”

“I’m sure.”

Lena grabbed the tweezers, disinfected them with hydrogen peroxide, and knelt on the couch beside Kara. She brushed blonde hair out of the way, and before touching the tweezers to Kara’s skin, leant forward to plant a kiss on her cheek. “Hi, by the way.”

“Hi,” Kara smiled back.

“I missed you today,” Lena continued as she touched the metal to Kara’s wound. 

Kara figured she was trying to distract her from any possible pain, and appreciated it. She could follow Lena’s lead, and maybe use it as an opportunity to steer the conversation in her own direction. “Oh, yeah? How come?”

“I always miss you when you’re not around, and I haven’t seen you since this morning.” The first little shard was out, and was placed in the metal tray on the coffee table.

“Charmer.”

Another shard extracted. “Says you.”

Kara grinned again. One of her favorite parts about their relationship was their banter. Kara was playful and Lena was witty-- they were the perfect match and never got tired of demonstrating it.

“Lena, can I tell you about the thing I mentioned earlier?”

A third shard clattered into the tray.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

Kara shifted nervously. “I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how Kryptonians might age on Earth. I’ve been worried that I’d- that I’d start aging super slowly, and that I’d live longer than humans.”

Lena’s hand stilled on Kara’s shoulder, and Kara knew that Lena understood the implications.

“But it’s okay, though, because I saw Clark today, and I noticed that he’s starting to get gray hairs. So I think him and I are gonna age normally after all.”

Kara turned hesitantly and saw Lena trying to suppress a smile. Kara understood. It wasn’t exactly polite to be pleased at the fact that someone was going to die one day, but she knew Lena was smart enough to grasp the greater meaning to this conversation. Not that Lena was necessarily thinking about marriage specifically, but about Kara’s lifespan, and how it won’t be so different than hers. Which generally bodes well for a relationship.

Kara made sure to say the next part while making eye contact. “And I wanted to tell you this because I wanted you to know that I intend to be with you for as long as you’ll have me. And now, I know for sure that our relationship won’t be affected by our different physiologies. So pardon me for being brazen, but I really wanted to ask you, Lena Luthor, if you see marriage in the cards for us?”

Lena’s eyes were glassy as she leant forward to kiss Kara, a tear slipping from her eye and landing on Kara’s cheek. “Yes.” She inhaled shakily, and her eyes filled again. “Yes, I think that that is definitely in the cards.”

Kara beamed, and took Lena’s face in her hands again in order to kiss away her tears. “You’d better save some of those for the proposal, babe,” she whispered.

Lena laughed, and it was watery and sweet and the most beautiful sound Kara had ever heard. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Kara swiveled her body to face Lena so she could draw her into a hug; Lena’s arms wrapped tightly around her neck, abandoning the tweezers and remaining careful of Kara’s wound, with Kara clutching at Lena’s back just as tightly. Kara could feel Lena smiling into her neck, and knew that this was where she belonged. “Sorry to ruin the moment, but did you get all the Kryptonite out?”

Lena sniffled. “Yes.”

“Great.” With that, Kara slid her hands beneath Lena’s thighs and stood up. Lena’s legs moved to link behind Kara’s back like they had so many times before. “This okay?”

“Yes.”

“Perfect.” Kara’s eyes closed as Lena pulled her into a deep kiss, and she made her way to their bedroom by muscle memory.

* * *

The next morning, Kara woke up to one of her favorite sights: a sleeping Lena’s naked body pressed against hers from head to toe, with Lena’s head on her shoulder, an arm over her waist, and legs tangled beneath the sheets.

She listened to Lena’s soft breathing and thought about how she’d never get sick of this feeling for as long as she lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two updates in two days, yeehaw!
> 
> I hope you find this one as tooth rottingly sweet as I did, I couldn't stop smiling while writing it. I just love these two so much. <3
> 
> Feel free to comment below or reach out on Twitter! (@katquarius)


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